Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-09-03

|" HIS is the story Of the beginning Of
the gas question: which troubles most
of US once a month and Is a peren-
NAL subject for economic social and
political discussion. 1t is a story not with
out its dramatic points. as BELTS the story
Of SO important a commodity; and not one
Of the least interesting things about 1t IS
that not until three-quarters Of century
after the initial distillation of coal gas was
it's possibilities fully and generally realized
and its use as an illuminant assured.
But to begin at the beginning OF the
beginning Of gas, the discovery that COAL
when distilled. would produced an inf1amma-
BILE gas was made by DR.. John Clayton
about the year 1879. Prior to that time
coal miners had experienced the gas OF coal
in the shape Of choke or firedamp and had
burned it, but were ignorant OF It's true
source.
DR.. Clayton made his important discov-
cry in a rather peculiar manner.
While living in Lancashire he heard of
q ditch wherein the water would seeming
Iy burn like brandy" Seeking 1t. he found
that what was said of this flaming ditch
was apparently true, but being of skepti-
cal turn of mind he waved a lighted paper
over the water he had removed from the
ditch and it would not take fire. Next
he had the ditch damned .in order to try
whether steam which arose out of the
ditch would then take fire. to quote his
account Again no fire resulted, and he
dug in the bottom of the ditch until he
struck vein Of shelly coal, when, on hold
ing a lighted candle in the hole while look
| ing about 1.-The air catched fire and con-
tinued burning.
Apparently without realizing that the
coal was the source Of the gas. the good
| doctor dug up some of the fuel, took 1t
home with him and distilled it in re-
phlegm, as he called it, resulted. after
ward a black oil, land then likewise q
spirit arose which I could in no ways
condense. but 1t forced my lutte and broke
my glasses.
The spirit" wrought similar damage sew
eral times, and once, when the doctor was
| repairing the lutte, it caught fire at the
doctor was duly astonished and likewise
| animated to further investigation. So he
caught the spirit" In turbinated receiver
and burned 1t and filed bfadders with 1t
and burned it, keeping 1t this way for
days at time 1t remaining as elastic and
| inhammable as the day It was distilled and
caught.
DR.. Clayton made no attempt to realize
on his discovery. In all probability he did
not have the faintest realization of the pos
sibilities Of the spirit he had discovered;
and the best to which he put it was
| burning 1t through pricks In bladders.
About thirty years later DR.. Richard Wat
| son (afterward the Bishop of Llandof) also
| failed to grasp the full significance OF his
experiments, when he distilled pit coal, per-
| mitted the gas to escape through curved
| tubes also noted Its great inf1ammab ility
and elasticity, and, further. that 1t retained
| its inf1ammability after passing through a
however. led to the commercial distilla-
| ton Of coal for tar; the resultant gas
was looked upon as a curious manifestation
and in 1854 IT was exhibited in London and
other English cities under the name of
philosophical fireworks
Not until decade had passed was gas
| first used for economical purposes. A Mr.
Murdoch then a resident Of Cornwall, and
something Of scientific investigator, dis
titled the gas. lighted his house and street
lamp with it, and used bladders of 1t to
| light the road at night when travelling In
his little steam carriage"
Removing shortly after this to Soho near
Birmingham, where he became connected
with the steam engine works Of ]. Watt jr
he continued his experiments, endeavoring
to ascertain the best methods Of making
purifying and burning the gas. AS a result
he was able in 1902 to illuminate the foun-
dry.
1.-The whole front of that extensive range
of buildings was ornamented with great
variety of device that admirably displayed
many of the varied forms of which the gas
light was susceptible" wrote a man who
witnessed the display. 1.-THE luminous spec
tacle was as novel as 1t was astonishing,
and Birmingham poured forth Its numerous
population to gaze at and to admire this
wonderful display of the combined effects
of science and art
The success Of the illumination must have
been highly gratifying to Mr.. Murdoch; at
any rate 1t sent him back to his crude re-
torts with renewed energy, but 1t failed to
give him the inspiration that here was a
great potential public utility ready to hand
and waiting only for the right man to make
known the fact and point the way to its use.
X
That man was not long In making his ap-
pearance While Mr.. Murdoch had been
carrying on his experiments in Soho man
of the name of Frederick Albert Winsor
had been distillng coal for gas and expert
menting with 1t in London in house loaned
him by retired gentleman Of the metropo-
lis. He has set down the motives that ami
mated him in pamphlet which he used to
promote his plans for the formation of the
first gas company:
1.-The principle that coal and other COM
bustibles contained, among other products
been known to the most learned of the last
century, but how to make the application
how to save and analyze-how to preserve
and refine-how to conduct gas in proper
alright tubes-how to Introduce gas fire
and gas lights into a drawing room. shop
and street lamp-how to cook, melt, boil and
distil by gas fire, either In a kitchen or
dining room-how to Introduce coke, tar and
ammoniaI liquor for the advantage of q
whole nation-how to make gas fire and gas
lights applicable to lighthouses. teIegraphs
and culinary purposes; in fine, how to save
and employ all the valuable component
parts of raw fuel with the greatest possible
adyantage-all these most difficult points of
my discovery were left a problem to theo-
rists, who could write, but not practice
who could fill bladders from retorts, to-
bacco pipes, pots pans and barrels. with
raw smoke, but could not illuminate the
rooms-whose delicate hands and noses
would have shrunk with horror from my
numerous dirty and laborious experiments
In kitchens and washhouses. where my own
laborers complained of being suffocated and
often refused to assist me. until / shamed
them by the example of stripping to per-
form what they thought was too dirty work
for them.
From this long wtnded sentence 1t may
be gathered that Mr. Winsor was some
what of a promoter and inclined to claim
for himself the honor of discovering the
gas. although all the known facts are
against him. But be that as 1t may. he