Nashville union and dispatch. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1866-1868, 1868-06-18
A NEW CHEMICAL LIGHT.
LuciferOus TnVentIOn-A New Light
sixteen Times Stronger than that of
Street Gas.

LuctferOuG HmVemtiOm-A New Light
sixteen Times Stronger than that of
From the New York Herald, 5th.
A second exhibition Of the light educed
by mixture Of pure oxygen with street
(hydrogen) gas, was given yesterday after
noon in The presence Of several distin-
guished gentlemen, in a darkened COM
partment in the offices Of Messrs. Stems,
Stevens g. French, % Nassau street. To
produce the oxygen gas cheaply and in
sufficient quantities, resort is had TO man
gauseotes compounds Of manganoric acid
with gases, which are deoxodyzed at a
temperature Of 500 degrees Fahrenheit by
passing hot steam over them in retorts.
The oxygen disengaged is conveyed 10
receiver. By this process, maganates act
ing as sponges, are again charged with the
electromagnetic element, the vital part Of
the atmosphere and supporter Of cOmbus-
ton. The gas, when played upon a mag
nesian pencil in combination with the by
drogen, producing pure, soft, white light,
sixteen times stronger than the ordinary
gas, or, TO express it more plainly, one jet
Of the oxygen gas is equG! to sixteen lights
Of ordinary street gas, the burners being Of
like capacity. ...
From the new light there is no impure
smell. II does not heat or adulterate the
atmosphere. Rather, it purifes il, acting
il this capacity as a depurator. When
burnt or combined with pure hydrogen,
such AZ il is proposed 10 extract from lime
and coal by q new process in the hands Of
the gentlemen named above, the light will
be beyond even present conception msgni6-
cent Ii will be all but drawing the light
Of the sun into a midnight of darkness.
Unshaded, the new illuminator has the
sparkle, but in intensity almost infinitely
multiplied, of the diamond. Shaded, il
seems 10 please the eye, which is never
fatigued, however long it may rest upon it.
We have been given TO understand that
il il about 20 be introduced into several
hotels, stores, manufactures and private
establishments, and we do not think the
time distant when il will be commonly
used in dwellings, public places, street
lamps, and elsewhere, as the ordinary
illuminAtive gas now is.
While, az has been stated, the intensity,
aud therefore brilliancy, Of the oxygen gas
is a. sixteen TO one Of hydrogen, il is not
more expensive; If any thing, il is be-
lieved that in a little while it can be made
much cheaper-that IL, the oxygen in COM
bination with pure hydrogen at the bur
ner, and for the reason that by new pro-
cess, for which patents are held, covering
the United States, by Messrs Sterns,
Stevens q French, the last named gas
can be obtained in large volumes from an
thracite coal. Ii has been ascertained that
by placing equal parts Of lime and an"
thracite in a retort, four volumes Of hydro
gen, under certain ascertained conditions,
can be obtained TO one of bituminous coal.
This, with the fact that by the process Of
Tessie du Motay aud Mareehafs for OBJ
tanning large volumes Of oxygen at exceed
ingly low figures, will place the new gas
light within the reach Of ala light
which will be Of incalculable benefit 10 the
world-a light so powerful, though SO
mild to the eye, that Il may be used equal
ly with daylight for Photographic Purpo-
sea.
Ii has recently been found in France,
where experiments in the new light are
being conducted on large scale, that a
substitute for the magnetism pencil has
been found which will prove far more du-
rable. This, of course, will help to greatly
reduce the cost Of burning the gas