The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1906-03-23
Discovery Of the Present Day
Necessity Made in Peculiar
Manner.
FIND NOT APPRECIATED
Not Until Many Years After Its Prop.
critics Were Fully Understood
Was II Put to Prac-
teal Use.
From the Washington Evening Star.

nav S@S NNN IVA NA3ASAA oAo 49,
OF us once a month and is Il perennial
subject for economic, social and politi-
cal discussion. 1t is Il story not With
out its points, as BELTS the
story of so important "a community;
and not one OF the least Interesting
things about it is that not until three
quarters of a century after the initial
diStillation OF coal gas was its possible
ties fully and generally realized and Its
use as an illuninant assured.
But to begin at the beginning of the
beginning OF gas. the discovery that
coal. when distilled, would produce am
tntlammable gas was made by Dr. John
Clayton about the year 1888. Prior to
that time coal miners had experienced
the gas of coal in the shape of choke or
tiredanlp and had burned ii, but wete
ignor nj of its tue source.
DR.. Clayton made his important dis.
covery in a rather peculiar manner.
While living in Lancashire he heard
OF a ditch wherein the water would
seemingly burn like brandy Seeking
1t he found that VIVA was said of TINS
flaming ditch Was apparently true, but
being OF Il skepticai turn of mind he
waved u lighted paper over the water
he had removed from the ditch. and it
would not take fire. Next he mad the
ditch damned lin order TO try whether
steam which arose out of The ditch
would then take fire To quote his ac-
count Again no :ile esu!ted and he
dug In the bottom of ditch until he
struck a Vein OF shelly GOA. when III
holding a l'shted candle in the hole
While looking about, the air catched
fire and continued burning"
Apparently Nilhout realizing that the
coal was the source of the gas, the good
doctor dug up some of the fuel, took it
home With him and dis,liied 1t in IL re-
tort III an open fire. Al first only Il
phlegm, as he called ii. resulted, alter
ward a black OH, and tilen likewise
a spirit arose Which l could in no ways
condense. but it forced my lutte and
broke my glasses
The "spirl1' wrought similar damages
seVera! times, AND once, when the doc
tor was repairing the lutte, 1T caught
lire at the tame of the candle. OF
course the good doctor Was duly as
tonished ana likewise animated To fur
Their investigation. So ne caught ,ne
spirit" in "a lurbinated receiver. and
burned ii ana filled hladdors wilh it
and burned il. keeping ii in this way
1or Gays at Il time. il remained as
elastic and iniiaIllnaple AS the uay III
was distilled and caught.
DIR. Clayton made NO %ttenpt 10 real
lie on his discovery. in All probability
he did not have The laintest realization
OF the possibilities of the ''spirlt'' lie
had discovered; and the best usa to
Which he pat it was 10 sevoriSe and
entertain his friends by burning il
va ii J. .itbDiN
Thirty years later Dr. Rl4faan0 Mat
son (afterward the bisIlup ~ l.iandn.t)
also failed To gasp the iuu Sls.i.io aIi,e
OF his experiments. W.4ca TX ulstfiied
PIT coal. permitted tie gas u escape
through curved tubes, ESQ MOTEL ITS
great i~ntiamlnablnty itild elasticitv.
and. further. that 1T lvtalnei ITS in-
nafnmab1!1ty after passing through a
great quantity OF Matei. His inVesti-
cations, however. le.i 10 The commercial
olstlllallon o. eoai 10Y tar: TIA resultant
gas was looked Upon as II curlous man
hesitation and in 1854 it was exhibited
IN london and Other iIngiisu cities nm
der the name of "philosopAieal fire
works"
Not unit! a decade had passed MA,
gas first used tot economical pa, poses.
A MIR. Murdoch. then Il reslaelt of
CORNWALL, ana something OF Il scientific
investigator, distilled the gas, lashted
his house and a street lamp with it.
and used bladders of it To light the road
at night When travelling In his little
steam carriage"
Removing shortly after this 10 Soho.
near birmingham. where he became
connected With the steam engine works
of j. Watt. jr., he continued his expert
lnents, endeaNoring to ascertain the
best methods Of making, purifying and
burning the gas. AS a result he was
able in 1908 to Illuminate The feundrv
The whole front of that extensive
range of buildings was ornamented With
a great variety of device that admir-
aply displayed many of the varied
forms of which the gas light was sus-
the display. THE luminous spectacle
was as novel as it WAS astonishing, and
birmingham poured forth its numer ous
population to gaze at and TO admire this
wonderful display of the combined ef-
fects of science and art"
1>ha S,,..Acc NJ III
have been highly gratifying 1 o Mr.. Muir
doch; at any rate 1t sent him back to
his crude retorts With rcneNed 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.
That man was not long in making his
appearance. While MIR. Murdoch had
been carrying on his experiments In
Soho q man of the name OF Frederick
Albert Winsnr had been distilling coal
for gas and experimenting with Il in
London IN a house loaned him by "a re-
tired gentleman of the metropolis. He
mas set down the motives that animated
him in Il pamphlet which he used to
promote his plans for the formation of
the first gas
The principle that coal and other
combustibles contained, among other
products, a most beautiful and valuable
flame, has 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 10 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 a gas fire. either in q
Kitchen or dining room-how to intro
duce coker. tar and ammonial liquor
for tie advantage of a whole nation
how to make gas fire and gas lights APP
plicable to lighthouses. telegraphs and
culinary purposes: in fine. how to save
and employ all the valuable component
parts of raw fuel with the greatest pos
sible ~advantage-all these most diff
cult points Of my discovery were left a
problem to theorists. who could write
but not practice-who could fill bladders
from retorts, tobacco pipes. pots. pans
anu barrels. with raw smoke. but could
not Illuminate the rooms-whose deli
cate hands and noses would have
.hg,unk with horror from my numerous