New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1859-08-19
G. As.

mand constant care and supervision 70 be msde 20
behave themselves Bread and meat are too often
suspicious characters with designs against our lives
In fact we have to walk by faith rather than sight
in all that we do for the ed6cstion Of our bodies,
and grace before meat is by no means work of
supererogaton, if we may believe the stories we
hear inssmuch az little short Of miracle is sufi.
Gent to convert the viands aud pOtables into food
convenient for US The sun we have not yet sue
ceeded in adulterating to any considerable extent
We are not aware that the spots on his surface are
to be attributed to any attempt to improve or
cheaper him. Only when bis beams do pursue US
we often do the best We can to shut them out OF
our houses, and at any rate to do much OF our
business and almost oil of our pleasure at night,
when be is busy in his transactions with the Anti
podes For then we have the satisfaction of sub
shutting for bis rays light of our own invention,
which we can make just as bad as we choose.
And this brings us to our subject Not pc
itica gas or Oratorical gas, or gas editorial or gas
literary or any Of the forms Of cstacbrestic pneu'
matics by which heavy fellows think to be lifted
above their negbbors and the sphere to which they
naturally belong. We speak merely Of the sua'
shine We keep sealed up in pipes aud let out when
ever We want it by turning the spigot and setting
it a.Epbt. We oil know that this differs from the
vulgar sunlight in several particulars Of price, OF
plenty, of quality, and of smell We arc made aware
of the first fact as often as the official comes round
and finds that the meter tells no fstterlng tale,
whatever hope might have done, in view OF our
imagined economies. The second forces itself up
on our minds, when the treacherous phantom dis
appears, like its elder brother, the WiI-o'the-
Wlsp, Just at tho very moment it should not.
And the two last thrust themselves too frequently
in our faces and take us by the nose too often to
admit of the least doubt of their unpleasant exist
cree.
The price of this element of our lives is matter
which the monopOlies which furnish the light to
our feet place entirely beyond our bare control
We must be content IN hA tav al with . tho r"st OF
the world whenever the decree goes forth from
Caesar. But whether the quality of the illumina-
ton on which We depend for half our lives be
equally beyond our improving hands, is not 80 Ger
tain. Next to god water and good drains, good
light is the thing most essential to our ply steal CON-
fort and well-being And there is no reason why
We should not insist upon having it. There is no
vested interest in the badness of an article Of which
We, in our legislative capacity, have given the sole
making into the bands of corporation. We may
no. interfere to cut down the profits Of business
We have created, but we surely may to see that it
furnishes US with the best description of the article
contracted for The effect of bad gas is not only most
injurious to our eyes lungs, brains and blood but,
Whist is Of much more importance, to our property.
In England, there is great objection made to intro
ducng it into the parts Of private houses where the
life is liyed-the dining rooms, drawing rooms, and
chambers-from the belief that it is Injurious to
health and to furniture. Health 10 Q consideration
We can hardly expect 9 busy Kuickerbocker TO
think worth noticing but he might be ap
preached We should think, BY way Of his carpets,
curtains, and other upholstery, which enter 10
largely into his being.
Books and pictures, i! is pretty well known, are
seriously damaged by bad gas. by any gas, it is
affirmed; but as no gas is as good as it may be
made, it does not follow that gas might not be so
made as to save them harmless. Persons psrticu-
lar about their books, and who have valuable col
lectons, are often unwilling to the risk Of the
damage that may thus accrue to them And iii
even more true of pictures. This is owing partly
to the actual heat of gas, when brought near to
pictures, but more to the compounds of sulphur
cited hydrogen in gas made from coal, and from
sulphide Of carbon, which, on combustion, yields
sulphurOus acid gas. This subject has been made
the occasion Of Commission, consisting Of the
most eminent English chemists, with Fsrsday at
their head, which has just made its report 10 Par
Lament. They report that there is nothing in the
nature Of coal gas which makes it necessarily inu
rious when used for the Illumination of picture
galleries But sulphuretted by drogen, aud sulphur.
Gus acid gas, are highly injurious to pictures,
whether painted in oils or water colors. This is,
Of course equally true of books and delicate mate
rails and upholstery. But on the other hand, they
testify that these elements Of mischief may be
eliminated from coal gas, and they are "emphati-
"caly of opinion that in every system of perma.
"nent gas Lighting for picture and sculpture CALLER.
"ies, provision should DO made for the efsctuxl
exclusion or withdrawal Of the products Of CON-
"bustion from the chambers containing works Of
"srt" !
This is speaking with authority, and with au-
thority that cannot be gainssyed. And it appears
that one collection-the Sbeepshanks Gdiery-has
been employed for an experimental attempt to Light
pictures with pure gas, and these learned gentle
men affirm that this has been done with entire sue
cess-the process there employed efectuAIy iu.
mnatng the pictures, and at the same time remov-
ing the products Of combustion. Now, what has
been done for gallery be done for all others,