Herald and tribune. [volume] (Jonesborough, Tenn.) 1869-current, 1886-05-13
Opposition to Notable Inventions.

might learn q profitable lesson, If they
would glance for moment at the history
of almost any of our important improve
ments, and study, through the perspec-
tive of several decades, the ungraceful
position of those who then maintained
similar attitude toward the advanced pro-
jects of their times.
In the presence of electricity we may
find the uncertain gas flame and the
harmful products Of combustion compar-
atively Objectionable, but for upward of
half century we have considered Its IL
Elimination great advantage, after the
more primitive methods of lamp and
candle. When first introduced, however
our ancestors can scarcely be called en-
thusiastic about the fluid. If the following
curious document represents at all cor
rectly the popular sentiment on the sub
ject. The list of names appended to the
petition includes men who were at that
time prominent among those most noted
for their intelligence.
PHILADELPHIA, Nov. 90, 1888.
REMoNsTRANcE AGAINST LIGHTING WITH
GAS.
To tie Honorable the Select and Common
Councils Of the City Of Philadelphia:
GENTLEMEN: The Subscribers beg
L IIaax f,,ll IN AM OF n
the plan now in agitation for Lighting
the City with Gas, as they consider 1t q
most inexpedient, offensive, and danger
Gus mode of lightning In saying this
they are fully sustained by the accounts
of Explosions Loss of Life, and great de-
struction of property, where this mode of
lighting has been adopted
We consider Gas to be an article as ig-
nitable as Gunpowder, and nearly as ia
tai in its effects: as regards the immense
destruction of property, we believe the
vast number of fires in New York and
other cities, may be in great measure
ascribed to this mode of lighting; the
leakage of the pipes and carelessness of
stopping off the Gas, furnish almost daily
instances of its destructive effects. When
we consider that this Powerful and De-
structive Agent, must necessarily be Of
ten left to the care of youth, domestics
and careless people, we only wonder that
the consequences have not been more ap-
palling. 1t is also an uncertain light,
sometimes suddenly disappearing and
leaving the streets and houses in total
| darkness.
The waters of the Delaware and
Schuylkill, now considered the most pure
and salubrious in the world, as many long
VOYAGES have fully tested, must soon, we
fear, experience the deterioration which
has reduced the waters of the Thames tc
the present impure and unhealthy State,
for no reservoir will be able to contain
the immense fctid drains from such an
establishment, and very soon the river
must be their receptacle to the destruc
ton of the immense shoals of Shad, Her
ring, and other fish with which they
abound; the same cause must produce
like effects. Salmon, Smelts and Other
fish, formerly caught in vast quantities in
the Thames have nearly all disappeared
The constant digging up of the streets
the circumstance of the gas pipes which
at the intersection of each square mus
come in contact with the water pipes
are difficulties and evils which we would
anxiously avoid
In conclusion we earnestly solicit tha
the lighting of our city with oil may bt
continued.
This document had several hundred
signers
But unreasonable as these apprehen
sions now appear, they were scarcely
comparable with those excited q few
years previously by Stephenson's newl.
invented locomotive. AT time whei
the commerce between Liverpool ant
Manchester was absolutely crippled TO
want of adequate transportation, and
company of gentlemen who had sufficien
confidence in the eminent inventor to risl
the necessary means stood ready to un
dertake the construction of railway be
tween the two cities, so powerful and S,
prejudiced was the opposition the enter
prise encountered that its success TO
some time remained very doubtful. Whel
the proposition was before Parliament, II
1926, pamphlets were issued offering cv
cry possible objection, and the newspa
pers declared the scheme impracticabl
and pernicious. 1t was affirmed that tn
CO VS. near the line of the road would sto
grazing and the hens no longer lay eggs
that birds would die from the poisonou
gases discharged from the smokestack
and the preservation of pheasants an
foxes be no longer possible.
People were seriously assured that til
sparks would certainly set fire to field
and houses, while the mir would be po
luted with smoke. Prospective passenger
were warned that they could not breath
, in train going so rapidly, and that the
!, would be made worse than seasick. Farm
ers were frightened by the statement tha
there would be no further use for horses
and with the extension of th
system the species would becom
extinct, and oats and hay would be III
{ salablc. The boilers, it was said, woul
burst, the country inns be ruined, an
the proper caste distinctions be broke
G down by such indiscriminate travelling
Failing to convince people theatene
D with such q series of calamities, the a
sailants of the new invention took con
Y fort in the belief that even were the raj
4 road ever built, the weight OF the loco
. motive would completely prevent i
i. moving. and that the trains could nevt
i. be worked by steam. Stephenson
$ tunnel was found very depressing; II WI
stated that "the sudden emersion in I'll
!. gloom of the tunnel and the clash of re
n verberated sound in confined spat
combined to produce momentary shut
der, an idea of destruction, thrill :
n annihilationl'
Yet these statements came from me
!, not altogether unaccustomed to progres
The humiliating failure Of their pr
: phecies might well restrain more model
! doubters from placing limitations upt
= the possibilities of the future.
IS The temperance people are better a
), ganized in Tennessee than ever before
r the history of the State, and they a
!. more alert and active than ever befor
/. There can be no doubt that the prohit
N tiop eontirnont 1. craving and th of m nj