HOW GAS WAS FIRST USED.

Oamaru Mail, Volume I, Issue 287, 24 March 1877, Page 4

HOW GAS WAS FIRST USED.

Great was the amazement of all England when at the close of the last century "William Murdoch discovered the use of combustible air or gas. So little was the invention understood and believed in by those who had not seen it in use that even gr»»ftt and wise men laughed at the idea. "How couM there be light without a wick V* said a member of Parliament when the subject was brought before the House. Even Sir Humphrey Davy ridiculed the idea of lighting towns by gas, and asked one of the proprietors if they meant to take the dome of St. Pauls for & gasmeter. Sir Walter Scott, too, made himself merry over the idea of illuminating London by smoke, though fur was glad enough not so long after to make his own house at Abbotsford light and cheerful on winter nights by the use of that very smoke.. When the House of Commons was lighted by gas. the architect imagined that the gas ran on fire through the pipes, and he therefore insisted ort their being placed several indie* away from the waif. cot fear of the building "faking fire, and members might bo seen cart fully touching the pipes with their gloved hand* and wondering they did not feel warm. The first shop lighted in 'London by the new method was jJtr.. Ackeruiann's in the Strand, in IHIO, and one lady of rank was so delighted with the brilliancy of the gaslamp em the counter that she asked to be allowed to take it home in her carriage. Murdoch was, however, too busy with other pursuits to continue to study the use of gas, and though he was undoubtedly the first to apply tt to practical purpose*, many others laid claim to the honor, and ffther people-quietly reaped the benefit of his cleverness and ingenuity. trt this he shared the general fate of inventors.— CtHtt Tvutfa JvttH'MiL