adequate mode of consumption; and, as experimental chemists have ascertained that it may be almost entirely converted into carburetted hydrogen gas by distillation, the adoption of some improvement by which this conversion may be effected during the first distillation, is an obvious means of greatly augmenting the quantity of gas procurable from any given weight of coal. Both the quantity and quality of the gas are considerably influenced by the temperature at which the distillation of the coal is conducted; and it is necessary that the process should not be urged on rapidly. If the distillation be carried on with the retort at a low red heat, scarcely observable by daylight, the gas will burn with only a feeble light; at a dull red, its quality is improved; but, when the retort is kept at a bright cherry red, the quality of the gas is excellent, and will be found to give a brilliant white flame. In whatever way the gas may be procured, it always requires some degree of purification, for it is constantly mixed with carbonic oxide and carbonic acid; and if the coal employed has contained any pyrites, which the Newcastle coal frequently does, the gas will have a portion of sulphuretted hydrogen gas mixed with it, which, though it may add to the brilliancy of the flame, always produces an extremely unpleasant smell. It is not difficult, however, to remove these impurities, by placing it in contact with a solution of caustic potash, or with quicklime diffused through water or solutions of some of the cheaper metallic salts. These agents will readily absorb the carbonic acid and the sulphuretted hydrogen, and leave the carburetted hydrogen sufficiently pure for any of the ordinary purposes to which it is applicable. The complete removal of these impurities is of considerable importance in the application of the gas to domestic purposes, as the sulphuretted hydrogen, during combustion, becomes partly converted into sulphureous acid, the suffocating odour of which is not only disagreeable, but pernicious; while its effects on metallic bodies, as on the oxides of lead used in painting, is extremely destructive of their beauty and permanency. When the carburetted hydrogen is, however, obtained pure, no mode of lighting can be less pernicious in its effect on the atmosphere of an apartment, or more perfectly free from any unpleasant odour.. As far therefore as regards economy, safety, and salubrity, we apprehend that the gas illumination will stand the test of the strictest investigation.Let us now attend to the influence which it is likely to produce upon our commercial interests. For this purpose we must look at the extent and importance of the Northern Whale-Fishery, which will be most immediately and directly affected by it. It appears, from the statement of the ship-owners engaged in this branch of commerce, that there are at present one hundred and fortyeight ships employed in it, the burdens of which amount to fifty thousand tons; and that they employ a capital of two millions sterling. The provisions for the voyage amount to about £600 for each ship, making a total amount of £90,000, which is of course drawn principally from our own agriculture. The number of hands employed on board these vessels during the fishing season, including boys, is about seven thousand five hundred; and, as the owners are required by act of parliament to have six apprentices to each ship of three hundred tons, about nine hundred boys are constantly in training to all the hardships of a sea-life, and preparing for the future service of the country; and they are liable to the impress after they have served three years. Several hundred landsmen are also annually taken on board these ships, who, in the space of two or three years, become good seamen, capable of serving on board ships of war. The occupation and climate too are salubrious, and are known to render seamen bold, vigorous, and hardy. It is evident that this important branch of commerce will be seriously affected by the general introduction of gas lights. Still we are willing to believe that the anticipations of injury formed by the Greenland owners, may be magnified by their fears, and their solicitude for their own interests. That the consumption of oil will be greatly diminished, cannot be doubted; but if the committee of the Greenland trade suc◄ ceed in their application to the legislature for an additional duty on the importation of foreign rape-seed, which they are now endeavouring to obtain, they will then find a very considerable compensation in the more extensive employment of whale-oil, for purposes from which it has hitherto been excluded. Of these the most extensive is the manufacture of coarse woollen cloths-to be applicable to which, the whale oil must be equally capable with rape-oil of being removed by scouring; for this property is quite indispensible to its extensive use in the woollen manufacture. It is evident enough, that whatever be the influence of the introduction of gas-light on the interests of those engaged in the whale-fishery, its beneficial consequences to the public. will be great and -- permanent. The capital which may be forced out of the Greenland trade will find a more profitable employment in the production of gas-lights; and the change will be advantageous to the community, since it will be a mere transfer of capital from a less to a more lucrative employment. The fixed capital employed in the machinery and apparatus necessary for the production and distribution of the coal-gas, may be nearly as great as that required for the production of the quantity of oil for which it will be a substitute; but it is probable, that it will require a considerably less annual expence to keep it in repair. The product is in both instances equally a new creation, and, as far as the interests of the great body of the people are concerned, it is a question of easy decision-which ought to have the preference. Large quantities of coke have at all times been required for various purposes in the arts, for which coal is much less convenient, and in many cases not at all applicable; and there is reason to believe that, as we become better acquainted with the most advantageous means of warming our domestic apartments, the consumption of coke will be greatly and advantageously extended. Hitherto the gas disengaged during the conversion of coal into coke, has been entirely dissipated and lost; but our knowledge of its value will now cause it to be carefully collected and applied to the uses to which modern discoveries have proved it to be so appropriate. The profit therefore of this operation will be as much a clear addition to the national wealth, as the harpooning of a whale which had grown up and fattened in the polar ocean, at no human expence. There is however this important difference, that not only is one of the productions brought to market at a smaller cost than the other, and so far contributes in a greater degree to augment the general fund of national wealth, but its positive value, for the particular purposes to which both are intended to be applied, is infinitely greater. Those streets into which the gas has been introduced, are really illuminated by its light, while the obscure glimmerings of the oil-lamps have never been more than sufficient to make the darkness visible; and at length they seem to answer no other purpose than to make the contrast more conspicuously advantageous to the gas. There is therefore sufficient proof that the effect upon our whale-fishery will be injurious, and probably to a considerable degree; though Mr. Accum very strangely asserts the contrary. Indeed the fisheries," he observes, "will find ample encouragement, and the consequence of lighting our streets with gas can prove injurious only to our continental friends, one of whose staple commodities, tallow, we shall then have less occasion to purchase." Such an opinion deserves no serious notice. It might be somewhat consistent with truth, had our streets hitherto been lighted with mouldcandles, instead of whale-oil. His remarks on the influence of the gas illumination on the coal-trade, are much in the same strain." It will contribute to lower the price of the superior kinds of coal, and keep a level which cannot be shaken under any circumstances; it will contribute to prevent combinations, which do certainly operate to the prejudice of the public, and do sometimes put this great town at the mercy of particular proprietors in the north, who deal out coal in the way they please. The competition thus produced, it is impossible not to cousider as an advantage, which would prevent in future such combinations, and put those in London out of the reach of them."-p. 142. In what way the coal-gas is to operate so as to produce these consequences, we do not perceive, and Mr. A. does not condescend to explain himself. To us it appears that its influence will be all in the opposite direction, as far as its operation may extend. By increasing the consumption of coal, its tendency will be to augment the price of that necessary article, and to render the fluctuations of the market not less, but greater. And as our coal-mines, though rich and extensive, are not inexhaustible, it will hasten the approach of that period, when this highly favoured island shall be inhabited only by ploughmen and shepherds, and when decay will be visible in all our populous manufacturing towns. Mr. Accum's book is loose and desultory in its details; by no means faultless in its style; and, where he has attempted an examination of questions arising out of his principal subject, he does not appear to advantage. He has injudiciously added to the expence of his book, by the introduction of some very useless coloured engravings of tripods and candelabras, and we know not what-as if it were possible that such trifles could enhance the value of a book, which ought to be purely scientific in its character. ART. II. The Story of Rimini; a Poem. By LEIGH HUNT. London. Murray. 1816. pp. 111. We have met with poems more perfect, but with none more interesting than the Story of Rimini. The subject of the tale is contained in an episode of the Inferno of Dante. Mr. Hunt very well observes of that extraordinary work, that some call it a satire, some an epic, but that it has always appeared to him "a kind of sublime night-mare." Since many of our readers may not be familiar with this most difficult of writers, we will endeavour to compress into a few lines of prose the subject of the four cantos of Rimini, containing, we think, not above six couplets which could be spared from the narration. Francesca, the beautiful daughter of Guido, the Duke of Ravenna, is betrothed to the Prince of Rimini, a successful general, whose alliance with her is to secure peace to her father's states. The poem opens with a brilliant de scription of the festive preparations for the reception of the lover, and the celebration of the nuptials. An ordinary poet, if urged to attempt the portraiture of a crowded and happy scene, might deploringly observe, that "every thing has been said, there can be no interest, no novelty, no singleness of effect in such a multitudinous picture. "Poets, like lovers, are indeed always impatient to get out of the throng into recesses, where individual feeling may expatiate; but Mr. Hunt has imparted to his moving multitude a reality and truth of colouring, which bring the whole scene before our eyes. We are reminded first of Nature, and then of one of the most exquisite exhibitions of her, in her gayest and most winning dress and attitude-Dryden's beautiful poem of the Flower and the Leaf. From among many passages which divide our favour and distract our choice, we select the following description of the horses of the knights of Rimini. "Others the horses and their pride explore, p. 15. |