NIGHT INTO DAY.

Press, Volume L, Issue 14976, 25 May 1914, Page 3

NIGHT INTO DAY.

..'■ THE G_S INDUiSTRY. 'ITS RELATION TO MODERN dVnJSATION. On Saturday, in the Canterbury Collego Engineering School, Mr H. E. Temple, P.C.S., gave a lecture on the "Gas Industry and its Relation toModern Civilisation."

The speaker commenced with tho raw .material,, coal. Thero ".vas very little known about its composition, and it certainly was the most complex body found in Nature. Although its ultimate analysis was a simple matter, and would reveal just how much carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, etc., it contained, it gave uo information as to Low these wero aranged. Nothing was known of the structural formulae of its cpnstituenfcSj and one could only guess vaguely at ( its composition. Coal had played the most important part in the history of the civilisation of man, as it was by its use that he had .been enabled <. to reduce,. the various meials from their ores, and to discard his crude - implements of wood ; aiid stone for the more efficient and amenable materials as bronze, and later iron .and steel. For" ages coal was only used for the production of heat, and later as an'industrial reducing agent. It was only towards the beginning of the nineteenth century that any inkling; was obtained of the marvellous wealth of the beneficent substance that could be derived frpm it. The first practical aoplica>ion of gas was in the year 1792. when William Murdoch lit up his house with tlie new illuminantl Great and influential opposition was, brought to bear against the company winch he endeavoured to establish, and it was not until 1812 that the Charter was obtained for the formation of it. A detailed and exhaustive explanation of the. manufacture of gas and the evolution of the gas-plant followed. Tho elementary product of coal as tho outcome of heating was gas, which was •used for turning the dark hours'of the night into the brightness of day, and for which purpose it was unsurpassed by at-j» other illnminant. Iv some of the more enb'ghtened critics of Germany, notably in Berlin, the electric lighting cables for street illumination had been torn up. and high power gas ]anips put in instead. In London, where the electric-lighting plant was owned hy the City Council, and where the gasworks were owned by private companies, after exhaustive and impartial tests, gas had been adopted for the lighting of the more important streets. Gas was recognised by hygenic expert- as a valuable aid to ventilation. For performing all kinds of household operations, such as the preparation of food, ironing, etc., there was no other agent that was bo efficient, adaptable, convenient, and economic. As> a source of industrial and commercial power, there was uot an industry, and hardly a -single workshop, where a gas engine could not be advantageously employed. As a fuel, gas was fast supplanting the use of solid fuel, on account of its greater control and cleanliness. In Birmingham alone, the corporation daily sent out two million cubic feet of high-pressure gas. It was largely used by brass and metal founders, glass workers, and manufacturing jewellers. The reason of such an output was that the temperaj ture conld be more readily controlled : and maintained at the desired point. Has was the direct product of coal, but it was to its discovery that they owed ; ammoniacal liquor, tar, coke, retort caribou, spent oxide, and cyanides. Ammo--1 niacal liquor helped to support two great New Zealand industries, agriculture and freezing. In the former it • was a valuable fertiliser, and in the I latter it was by its use that the freezing works were'enabled to maintain the low temperature necessary. All ammonia in commerce came from the distillation of coal tar. From gas-tar ...u different substances were extracted. Tho commercial product, bejtzino, -was obtained from tar at a temperature of l~ode*r. F., and when the temperature "was raised to 230de_* . the household aud i surgical product of carbolic acid was extracted. The discovery of the properties of carbolic acid were duo to Lord Lister, who found that as an antiseptic dressing after operations the most phenomenal results were obtained. A number of lantern slides were shown during the lecture concerning ' tho ero'nt'on of the -ras-ir-akina: Hone, and indicating to w'-at a fine point tbe j art has been reduced, j A vote of thanks was accorded the lectnrer for his interesting and educational address.