| INTRODUCTORY OBSERVATION. | Page | 1. |
| Progress of the arts.—Influence of it upon the morals and condition of man.—Beneficial tendency of chemical and mechanical improvements.—State of pre-eminence of people with regard to civilization.—How to be estimated.—Flourishing state of those nations which have shown the greatest activity in cultivating the useful arts, and establishing useful enterprises.—General observations on this subject.—Extraordinary discoveries of modern times.—New art of procuring light.—Object of the treatise. |
| PART I. |
| PRODUCTION OF ARTIFICIAL LIGHT, &c. | 8. |
| Production of the flame generated during the combustion of certain bodies.—Characters of flame when perfect.—Most luminous flame, how produced with the least consumption of combustible matter.—Conditions necessary for that purpose.—Importance of this subject, with regard to the production and supply of artificial light.—The flame of bodies may be tinged.—Blue flame, red flame, green flame, &c.—Opinion concerning the origin of light emitted by bodies burning with flame.—Philosophy of the subject.—Theory of the action of the instruments of illumination.—Rude method of procuring light employed in some countries.—Chemical action of candles, and lamps.—Agency of the tallow, oil, &c.—Office of the wick.—Reason why tallow candles require snuffing, and wax candles snuff themselves—Further observations on the subject. |
| METHOD OF ASCERTAINING THE ILLUMINATING POWER OF CANDLES, LAMPS, AND OTHER LUMINOUS BODIES. | 22. |
| Optical principle assumed as law for determining the relative strength of lights of different kinds.—Admeasurement of the intensities of light.—Quantity of wax, tallow, oil, &c. requisite for producing a light of a certain strength.—Method of increasing the light of tallow candles, and to obviate the necessity of snuffing them.—A tallow candle placed in an inclined position gives more light than when placed perpendicularly and snuffed with an instrument.—Explanation of the fact.—Further observations on this subject.—Comparative cost of the light obtained by burning tallow candles of different sorts and sizes. |
| PART II. |
| GAS-LIGHT. | 47. |
| Encouragement given by the legislature to the new system of procuring light.—Gas-light company, incorporated by charter, to apply the new art of illumination by way of experiment, on a large scale, to illuminate the streets and houses of the metropolis.—Power and authorities granted to this corporate body.—are very restricted, and do not prevent other individuals from entering into competition with them.—Boundaries of their experiments.—limit of capital employed by them.—Power of His Majesty with regard to the gas-light charter. |
| THEORY OF THE COMBUSTION OF COAL IN ELUCIDATION OF THE NATURE OF GAS-LIGHT. | 49. |
| Natural history of pit-coal.—Immediate constituent parts of coal.—Their relative quantities—are different in different kinds of coal.—Phenomena, which happen during the combustion of coal.—Analysis of coal by distillation.—Great waste of matter capable of producing light and heat, in the usual mode of burning coal.—Proofs of this statement.—Theory of the production of gas-light, compared with the production of light obtained by candles and lamps.—Place which the discovery of lighting with gas occupies in the philosophical order of knowledge. |
| HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE RISE AND PROGRESS OF THE APPLICATION OF COAL-GAS AS A SUBSTITUTE FOR PROCURING ARTIFICIAL LIGHT. | 55. |
| The discovery of the inflammable nature and application of coal-gas for the production of artificial light, cannot be claimed by any body now living.—Early notices of the inflammable property of the gas obtained by distilling coal.—Attempts to substitute it for tallow and oil.—Experiments made with coal-gas by Dr. Clayton, Dr. Hales, and the Bishop of Llandaff.—First successful attempt of lighting manufactories with gas.—Creditor and debtor account concerning the expence of this mode of illumination, when compared with the light obtained by tallow candles.—Claims of Mr. Murdoch with regard to the economical application of coal-gas.—Claims of Mr. Winsor.—Experiments of Mr. Northern, Mr. Clegg, Mr. Cook, Mr. Ackermann.—Economical statements of the gas-light illumination when compared with the cost of the same quantity of light obtained by means of candles and lamps. |
| THEORY OF THE PRODUCTION OF GAS-LIGHT; AND DESCRIPTION OF A PORTABLE APPARATUS FOR ILLUSTRATING, IN THE SMALL WAY, THE GENERAL NATURE OF THE NEW SYSTEM OF PROCURING LIGHT. | 77. |
| Philosophy of the production of coal-gas.—Characters of the various products which the gas-light process affords, their quantities, and modes of obtaining them.—Quantity of gas obtainable from a given weight of coal.—Illuminating power of a given bulk of coal-gas compared with the illuminating power of a given weight of tallow candles.—Practical directions with regard to the production of the gas from coal.—Its chemical constitution and analysis.—Pit-coal is not the only substance which affords carburetted hidrogen gas.—This gas exists ready formed in nature.—Mode of collecting it when found native.—Is given out by all kinds of vegetable matter, submitted to distillation in close vessels.—Other sources of obtaining this gazeous fluid.—Practical directions with regard to the method of obtaining from coal, this gazeous substance, as best suited for illumination.—Chemical constitution of coal-gas.—How ascertained. |
| UTILITY OF THE GAS-LIGHT ILLUMINATION WITH REGARD TO PUBLIC AND PRIVATE ECONOMY. | 99. |
| Objects to which the new system of lighting with gas may be beneficially applied.—Capital advantages of the gas-light illumination.—Places and public edifices lighted with coal-gas in this metropolis.—Situations best suited for the application of gas-lights.—places where it cannot be used to advantage.—Illumination of barracks, arsenals, dock yards, &c. with coal-gas.—Further observations on this subject.—Great heat produced by gas-lights.—Reason why the flame of coal-gas produces more heat than the flame of candles and lamps.—Admeasurement of the comparative degrees of heat produced by gas-lights, oil lamps, tallow and wax candles, &c.R
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