New-York tribune., 1876-01-25
T. rs IND OIL,

Thero il probably 10 place on the globe
where tho comparative merits of gas and oil
are more discussed at present than Brooklyn.
very marked increase in the consumption of
oil for light, and a decrease i'll the Use of gas,
have been for many months noticed III that
city. greatly to tho sorrow of the gas com
panics there. How far oil has been substituted
for gas in private dwellings there is no certain
method Of estimating: but 1t Is well known
that there are numerous instances where house
holders in what arc called comfortable cir
cumstancrsn have recently ordered the meters
to be taken out of their houses The change
is more easily observed in shops that are open
in the evening. On the inferior thOroughfares,
oil lamps are the rule, gas the exception, Ill
the show windows. On the best street for
storcs-Fulton-st.- st.-there are few blocks
where the oil prcdominatcs largely; many
where it is used by about half the shops and
scarcely block without some Instances of the
change. Here and there few of the larger,
handsomer shops are burning oil and there Is
an occasional one where both gas and oil are
burning. the oil probably being on trial. The
gas companies are manii' silly uneasy, though
some of their officers speak in sighting terms
of the matter as merely n symptom of the
"hard times" which everybody hopes are
passing away. But meanwhile the Offer Is
made to Eght the street lamps with oil at a
price far below the lowest that gas is furnished
nt. and the offer has had the effect already of
reducing the price at which the city contracts
for gas.
How much can he saved by substituting oil 7
The estimates Of those who have made the
change differ widely. but majority place the
saying at from one-half to three-fourths Of
their old gas bills. The exact figures could
be very easily arrived at. We propose to mar
rate n simple experiment, not very precise.
which our readers can repeat for themselves.
An ordinary students lamp burning oil,
was compared with bat's-wing burner con-
suming six feet of gas in IN hour. First, the
amount of gnt was compared, by holding Il
lead pencil at distance from the two flames
and observing the two shadows. BY pushing
the gas burner further back than the lamp, ii
point was at length reached where the shadows
were equally dark. The gas WAS then seven
feet from the pencil; the lamp was 5.3 feet.
The comparative light of the flames was as
the SQUARES of these distances ie, as 40 to
%. or IA. The lamp burned oil Gas was
asceitainrd by weighing it ut interyals) at the
rate of about one gallon in 20 hours To get
as much light from oil as from the gas burner,
one gallon would, of course, last only 40 hours.
This oil was bought at retail for 80 cents. II
gas costs SO per 1000 feet, the siX-foot
burner would consume ~ cents worth in the
40 hours. IL the price OF gas were reduced to
So 30 per 1000 feet, it would still cost twice
az much, light for light, as the oil.
whether, on the whole, it is a saving to a
community to substitute oil for gas, is quite
another question. Cheap oi!-half the price of
that used in the experiment-is, unfortunately,
for sale 4 few weeks ago at Ilobokcn man
introduced tho cheap oil into his house in place
Of gas he has now pile of sc0rched bricks
on vacant lot, and the gas companies of Ho-
boken are serene. The dealer who sells such
| oil no less certainly bargains for causing death
aud destruction than did Thomassen with hi.
cl0ckwork and dynamite. Why the sale is not
repressed 10y heavy penalties, such rs surrount
dealings in gunpowder and nitro -glyceriIe
does not clearly appear the danger in using