Sample Pages From Coal in Victorian Britain Part I Vol 1

8/3/2019 Sample Pages From Coal in Victorian Britain Part I Vol 1

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112 Coal in Victorian Britain, Volume 1

obained cericaes o meri, being he highes awards. Tese were Waddell andMain’s (Glasgow) ‘Universal Domesic’, Wilson’s (Leeds) ‘Eclipse’ Gas Kich-ener,3 and Wrigh’s (Birmingham) Gas Cooker No. 492. On applicaion o heserms, hey a once agreed o place a my disposal soves o he same size and pa-ern as hose used in Glasgow, in order o enable me o experimen upon hemin any way I migh consider desirable. Many rials were made wih hese soves,alike as o he necessary consumpion o gas, he cooking emperaure obainedin he ovens, and he naure o he spen gases. Te resuls obained may be sum-marized as ollows:– /

Waddell and Main’s ‘Universal Domestic,’ No. 3. – Tis sove sands 31 inches

in heigh, has a op cooking space o 18¼ in. by 17 in., and an oven space o 18in. by 14 in. and 14 in., being ully 2 cubic ee. Te oven is lined wih re-brickboh on he sides and he op; here are hree boiling-rings on he op, and hereis also a reecing-ring wihin he op o he oven. Peroraed re-clay slabs are

placed beween he mea and pasry or bread. Te re-brick lining o he ovenserves as an excellen non-conducor, and reains he hea wihin he oven. Teinerior o he oven is heaed by a series o burners wih small side jes whichconsume he gas wih a whie ame, as in ordinary house combusion; whils herings on he op o he sove are on he Bunsen principle,4 and burn he gas wih ablue non-luminous ame. wo o hese upper / rings are used or heaing pos orkeles; whils he hird is inended or grilling by deecion when covered wiha plae, or or ordinary boiling purposes when he deecor is removed.

When using he oven alone, I ound, wih a consumpion o gas ranging beween 11.50 o 11.70 cubic ee per hour, ha a cooking emperaure o 340°Fahr.5 was reached in 10 o 15 minues; and ha, keeping up he same quan-iy o gas, he emperaure o 400° was obained in an hour, which hereaerincreased o nearly 500°.6 As a emperaure o 310° o 340° Fahr. is amply su-cien or he cooking o mea, such as joins, I made oher rials which showedha aer he oven had been heaed o 340° Fahr. i could be reained a ha em-

peraure by an expendiure o 5.7 cubic ee o gas per hour. I hereore ollowsha, commencing o hea up he oven o roasing-poin by using 12 cubic eeo gas per hour, you may in abou 15 minues reduce he consumpion o gas o6 cubic ee per hour, and sill reain he proper hea or cooking a join o mea.As he mea is well done in wo hours, i ollows ha wih a consumpion o 14

cubic ee o gas he cooking o he join may be accomplished. Moreover, pasryor a mea pie may be cooked a he same ime wihin he same oven, and wih nourher expendiure o gas, excep rom he use o he browning ring wihin heop o he oven or 15 o 20 minues a he close, so ha a supply o gas decidedlyunder 20 cubic ee will amply su ce or he ull cooking o join and pasry,or join and mea pie, or he whole conens o he oven. Tere remains he opcooking, where he vegeables – including soups, poaoes, &c. – are boiled. Te



Te Sanitary Aspects o Cooking and Heating by Coal Gas 113

upper rings consume abou 12 cubic ee per hour; and 20 cubic ee in all wouldmore han amply su ce or all possible coningencies, including even reasonable

wase. I would hus appear ha 40 cubic o gas would cover he cooking o a ulldinner in an ordinary middle-class household;7 and aking he price o he gasas 4s. 2d. per 1000 cubic ee, we have 2d. as he cos o he uel required romrs o las in he operaion – being 1d. worh o gas or he wo hours’ work o he oven, and 1d. worh o gas or he boiling processes on he op o he oven. /

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Te proporions o gas and cos given or hese hree rs-class gas cooking-soves have been reckoned on he assumpion ha roass were required o becooked every day; bu i a less preenious dinner be only prepared on alernaedays, dispensing probably wih much o he oven or op cooking appliances, hequaniy o gas consumed and cos o uel would necessarily be less, and in hemajoriy o middle-class houses i would probably be ound ha, or sewing,grilling, and boiling operaions on hese alernae days, abou 20 cubic ee, or1d. worh o gas, would su ce or he preparaion o he dinner. So ha orhe sum o 3d. he dinner or wo days would be cooked. In he preparaion o breakas, he employmen o he upper rings or he making o porridge, boiling o he kele, cooking o sh, ham, or a chop, he making o oas, he boiling o eggs, &c., would cerainly no consume more han 10 cubic ee o gas in any

o he hree soves already reerred o; so ha, or an expendiure / o ½d. ingas, a subsanial amily breakas would be laid upon he able. A similar sum

would amply cover he whole expendiure in gas uel or all he heaing opera-ions required or ea and supper.

Te oregoing experimenal resuls have reerence o soves su cienly largeor he daily wans o middle-class amilies; bu, where less cooking is required,smaller-sized soves may be used. Te various ‘lile cookers’ and ‘bachelor’soves will su ce o do all he cooking or a plain breakas, dinner, or ea, aan expendiure in gas o 6 o 10 cubic ee per hour, or abou 1d. per day. Whenconsuming 6 cubic ee per hour, hese lile soves in 10 minues ge up a em-

peraure in he brander8 o rom 330° o 430° Fahr., according as he brander is placed arher rom or nearer o he gas-jes.

Te above remarks apply o he use o he gas-soves a emperaures wihinhe proper range or cooking purposes. By increasing he consumpion o gasin he larger soves, i is easy o obain a hea which goes up o 500° and eveno 600° Fahr.; bu such high emperaures are no more desirable in gas heaing-soves han in ordinary coal heaing-ranges. /

Te saniary aspecs o cooking by gas mus depend grealy upon he naureo he gases and vapours produced during he combusion o he coal gas, and




which impinge upon he mea. Tese gases or vapours are mainly carbonic acid, waer vapour, and sulphurous acid, accompanied, when he gas is improperlyburned, by races o carbonic oxide, aceylene, and oher oily hydrocarbons.9 Tecarbonic acid is ormed in large quaniies, ranging rom 80 o 90 per cen. o he volume o he gas consumed. In special experimens on he Edinburgh gas,I ound ha 100 volumes o he coal gas yielded rom 85 o 90 volumes o car-bonic acid; so ha in round numbers we may regard he gas as evolving during combusion abou is own volume o carbonic acid. aking he specic graviyo he coal gas as 500, and ha o carbonic acid as 1529 (air = 1000), a cubicoo o he coal gas will weigh 268 grains, whils he cubic oo o carbonic acid

will weigh 821 grains.

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Tis amoun o carbonic acid can also be obained byhe combusion o 224 grains o carbon, o 298 grains o coal, rom 1½ hours’consumpion o a allow candle, and rom a small house-je o coal gas. Te waer

vapour is also produced in large quaniy during he combusion o he coal gas,and special experimens on he Edinburgh gas showed ha one cubic oo o he gas yielded rom 1.4 o 1.5 cubic ee o vapour. Te sulphurous acid gas isalways ormed during he burning o he coal gas, bu he quaniy is small. In100 cubic ee o gas, we may ake 10 grains o sulphur as an average proporion;so ha 1 cubic oo o gas will conain 0.1 grain o sulphur. During combusionhe sulphur burns ino double is weigh o sulphurous acid gas, so ha he cubicoo o coal gas weighing 268 grains will yield 0.2 grain o sulphurous acid gas,or 1-1340h o he weigh o he coal gas. Te proporion o sulphur in ordinary

coal may be reckoned as 0.5 in 100 pars, or 1-200h o he weigh o he coal, yielding during burning 1.0 o sulphurous acid, or 1-100h o he weigh o hecoal, being ully hireen imes he quaniy o sulphurous acid gas evolved dur-ing he combusion o coal as compared wih coal gas, weigh or weigh.

Te oher producs o combusion o coal gas, such as carbonic oxide,aceylene, and oher oily hydrocarbons, are only ormed during he impereccombusion o he gas, as when burners do no properly heir sockes, or helighs srike back and burn more or less smoky. In none o my rials wih hegas cooking-soves, where he gas was properly aended o, were any o hese

producs observable in he spen gases. Undoubedly, were he gas consumedimperecly, aceylene would specially be produced, and would end o ain hemea; bu such can as readily be avoided, wih reasonable care, as he smoking

o ood rom an imperecly lighed coal re in an ordinary coal cooking-range.In any sove and wih any sysem o burners he venilaion o he sove mus

be kep up, so as o ensure ha he producs o combusion and he gases and vapours evolved rom he mea during he cooking are carried away. A deciencyo venilaion may lead o he imperec combusion o he gas, and even o he

parial exinguishmen o he lighs and he aining o he mea; bu, a he sameime, here mus no be oo much venilaion, or such would conduce o he




lowering o he emperaure in he oven, and o he drying up o he mea during he progress o he cooking. / Te hree soves specially experimened upon byme were ully equipped wih venilaing pipes.

Te cooking o mea in he gas-soves yields a large reurn o cooked meahan in he ordinary coal-ranges. Te loss in ordinary cooking wih an open reor in a coal-re oven – under he bes circumsances o having waer in he panunderneah, and repeaed basing o he join or gigot – is abou 40 per cen.;

while in mea cooked in gas-soves he loss is only abou 25 per cen. o a largeexen he diference o 15 per cen. is due o he mea being consanly sur-rounded by an aqueous vapour or waery amosphere derived in grea par rom

he waer produced during he combusion o he gas isel; here being abou1½ cubic ee o waer vapour ormed during he burning o every cubic ooo gas. Te inuence upon he mea o his amosphere sauraed wih mois-ure, will be no only o keep he mea more mois, bu o hinder he escape andevaporaion o he juices o he mea, and o reain he osmazome11 or avouring maer, so ha he mea, when properly done, will be ound o be more juicy andmore palaable, and ye ree rom hose alkaloidal bodies produced during heconned cooking o mea, and which are more or less hurul and even poison-ous. As he gas-cooked mea is more juicy, i will be more easily digesed; bui will be less liable o keep, owing o is being more mois and juicy. Dry meaundoubedly keeps longer han mois and juicy mea, and i he dryness is car-ried ou ill lile moisure is le and he mea is hardened, he maerial can be

kep or monhs wihou ending o give way, bu such dried and hardened meais more di cul o digesion. Te more juicy and asy gas-cooked mea is a sepin he righ direcion; or we cook o ea, and we ea o diges, so as o imparready and immediae srengh o he animal rame.

Te bes cooking-sove is one which an ordinary domesic can leas ail okeep in order, and where he gas-jes are leas likely o go wrong and lead o heimperec combusion o he gas. In ordinary cooking, he Bunsen jes are moreliable o srike back and burn imperecly, leading o he ormaion o aceyleneand oher oily hydrocarbon compounds; whils he common lighing jes, inheir various orms, are leas liable o ge ou o order. Moreover, he Bunsenarrangemens are more di cul o ligh; here being a endency or explosionso ake place, and he lighs o be blown ou, and when once he Bunsen jes ge

clogged up wih grease hey are also more di cul o clean ou.A good gas cooking-sove should be easily heaed, easily regulaed, and eas-

ily worked. All o hese condiions were pracically obained in he hree sovesunder special rial; bu I am bound o say ha hey are more horoughly obainedin Waddell and Main’s sove han in he ohers, on he ollowing grounds:—(1) Ta he re-clay lining, being an excellen non-conducor, reains he hea

wihin he sove wihou exposing iron o rus. (2) Ta he jes o gas may be




urned down o he smalles lighs wihou sriking back or burning imperecly.(3) Ta he sove door may be opened and shu wihou risk o exinguishing he lighs or rapidly cooling down he sove.

In he use o a gas cooking-sove he venilaing ue rom he sove shouldbe carried ino an ordinary chimney, and i will be beer ha he whole soveshould be placed wihin an ordinary / replace, so ha he gases produced dur-ing he combusion o he upper gas-jes may be carried ou o he room. In myopinion he bes arrangemen would be o place he gas-sove wihin he ordi-nary open replace wihou any special building or damper ings, and o carryhe ue rom he gas-sove oven only abou 3 ee high in he open chimney. Te

resul will be ha he shor ue will venilae he oven ino he chimney, anda he same ime cause a draugh which will aciliae he gases rom he uppercooking-rings being also carried up he chimney.

A word abou he saniary aspec o heaing-soves. Tese should never be placed in any room or par o a house wihou being conneced wih ues o carryaway he spen gases. Te saemen ha no noxious gases are evolved becauseno smell is observable is quie erroneous. No doub he gases given of rom aheaing-sove are he same as hose yielded by an ordinary gas-je in a room, andhe inerence is someimes drawn ha he heaing-sove is no more hurul hanhe lighing-je; bu he gas-sove and he gas-bracke are no placed under hesame circumsances. When he ligh-bracke is burning during he long siings o he winer monhs, our res are keeping he rooms well venilaed; and hough he

common res may be of during he summer, ye ha is he period when our ligh-bracke is burning during only a ew hours, and window venilaion is indulged in.Even when gasligh is kep burning all nigh in sick-rooms, i is generally lowered,and he venilaion is oen aided by a re in he room. Te use o he gas-sovein any room, wihou proper venilaion, is dangerous, and he spen sove gasesshould invariably be carried ino a chimney. No doub he sove migh be placedin he room wihou any connecion wih he chimney, and he room isel be

venilaed; bu his consan renewal o he air would be a waseul expendiureo hea, and i would be much more economical o use he connecion wih hechimney ven. Te consan heaing o an aparmen by a gas-sove would beraher expensive as compared wih coal; bu where, as in an evening, or an houror wo, i is desired o have a room heaed in a ready and serviceable manner, he

gas will bea he coal, alike or aciliy o doing duy and or sric economy.Te wholesomeness o he mea cooked in he gas-soves mus be regarded

as beyond doub. Te mere impinging o he spen gases produced during hecombusion o he coal gas upon he mea, in he process o cooking, cannolead o he impregnaion o he mea wih any noxious maer. Tese spen gasesand vapours are simply carbonic acid and waer vapour, wih minue propor-ions o sulphurous acid, and are he same as hose evolved rom a common coal




re used or grilling a chop or seak, and such have never been challenged asbeing unhealhy because he spen gases rom he coal re impinged upon hem.Indeed, rom he quaniy o coal consumed in an ordinary coal cooking re,he proporions or carbonic acid and sulphurous acid evolved hererom musbe many imes greaer han he amouns yielded by he gas cooking range; andhence he coal-cooked grilled mea should be more inuenced by he spen gaseshan he gas-cooked mea. Moreover, during he process o cooking, he mea isalways exuding vapour rom isel, and hence is no liable o absorb oher vapours

which may surround i; so ha, independenly o he relaively iner / naure o he spen gases, he mea is prevened rom absorbing such, were hey even nox-

ious. As he bes pracical proo o he wholesome naure o he mea cookedby gas, and o he absolue wan o ain abou such, I may urher sae ha orseveral years I have been o cially conneced wih a large esablishmen where allhe principal joins and dishes, including pasry, are cooked in a gas-range, andI have invariably ound he mea, &c., o be horoughly well done, o be exceed-ingly good o he ase, and decidedly wholesome. In ac, no beer cooked meaand pasry could be prepared, and be more palaable and accepable.

For cooking purposes, I am conden ha gas is no only serviceable bu isalso economical, besides being cleanly and handy. Te aenion required by anordinary coal-range is mainly occupied in he ring or heaing operaions, andno in he acual cooking process. Eiher he re mus be kep in nigh and dayor service a only limied periods, or, i allowed o go ou, preliminary processes

o lighing up wih paper and sicks and coal mus be gone hrough or someime beore he re-range is available or service. On he oher hand, he gas-sove and cooker is ever ready or work, and he mere urning o a cock andlighing o he gas a once places he gas-range in serviceable order or cooking

purposes. Moreover, he coal re or range is di cul o regulae – a imes ooho, a imes oo cold – bu he gas re or range can, in a momen, be raisedor lowered in heaing power by he mere opening or closing o he sopcock;and, sill urher, he coal-range becomes clogged wih ash débris, which musbe removed now and again, leading o much dus and annoyance, while in hegas-range here are no residual producs or ashes o remove.

Independenly o he more cleanly and handy naure o gas heaing-sovesover coal heaing-ranges, here is he pracical quesion o he relaive cos o

uel. I have already given he deailed saemens based upon experimenal daa, proving ha any o our bes gas-ranges may be horoughly worked or all henecessary cooking conneced wih an ordinary middle-class amily a an expensein gas no exceeding 4d. per day, and where more moderae roasing operaionsare carried on, on alernae days, or abou 3d. a day. aking he larger o hesegures as represening use and probable wase, we have o conras such wih hecos o coal. Now I have deermined, in wo coal cooking-ranges conneced wih




moderae-sized middle-class houses, ha he amoun o coal used in ordinary working, including acual cooking and keeping he re in during he inervals,runs rom ½ cw. o 1 cw. per day; and aking he average price o coal as laiddown in house cellars as 16s. per on, he cos o he coal used in he coal cook-ing-ranges would be rom 8d. o 16d. per day, or an average o 1s. per day. aking even he lower gure o 8d. per day, which is raher wihin he mark, we ndha he cos o he uel or a serviceable coal cooking-range is wice ha o a gascooking-range. O course, he coal-range is always more or less on duy, wheherrequired or no; whils he gas-range is only on duy when absoluely required,bu is always ready or work a a momen’s noice. I admi ha he coal-range

also heas he kichen, and probably also heas waer in a boiler a he same ime,and some allowance mus be made or hese exras, in he way, eiher o having asupplemenal heaing re in winer or employing exra / gas or such purposes;as, indeed, has been done in some gas-soves. Bu, aking everyhing ino con-sideraion, I am o opinion ha gas cooking will bea coal cooking in cos o maerial, as well as in aciliies o doing work; in cleanliness; and in e ciency.

Anoher and very imporan elemen in he quesion o economy is herespecive yield o cooked mea rom he coal and gas ranges, which in he caseo he coal range is 60 per cen. o he raw maerial and o he gas-range 75 percen.; which pracically means his – ha a join or gigot weighing 10 lbs. as pur-chased rom he bucher will come ou o he coal-range in a cooked condiion

weighing 6 lbs., and ou o he gas-range weighing 7½ lbs., being a diference o

1½ lbs. in avour o he gas-range. Now, graning ha a par o his diference orsaving is due o he reenion o more waer vapour in he mea, here can be nodoub ha in he oher par i is due o he mea juices being more horoughlykep in he gas-cooked mea. Te pracical dieeic resul is ha he laer cusou beer and goes arher, in he proporion o 25 per cen. more, han hecoal-cooked mea. aking his excess o cooked mea alone ino consideraion,he saving is ar more han ample o cover he whole cos o gas uel, allowanceor cos o sove, and even aendance hereon.

In smaller houses, where he lile cooker and bachelor sove is su cien,especially in summer, when no heaing re is required, he economy in using hegas-soves mus be very grea. For an expendiure o 1d. in gas, he whole cooking can be accomplished or he day wih comparaively no rouble in lighing he

re, carrying coals, and removing ashes. When required, he gas can be insanlylighed, and he sove is pracically in use in a minue. When he cooking is done,he gas is urned of, and he expense insanly sopped. I he kele requires obe kep ho, he waer may simmer away or hours wih a minue je o gas, andhe emperaure be insanly raised when boiling waer is waned – no prelimi-nary expendiure in sicks or lighers, and no delay or ime wased. Moreover,no smoky chimneys, no soo alling ino pos, no cleaning up o re-places, and




no ash-dus difused hroughou he room. Sooy hands, blackened aces, andarnished dresses reduced o a minimum.

Finally, my experimens on he gas-soves have horoughly saised me haScoch gas or cannel gas,12 as now supplied in Scoland, can be used wih e -ciency in he heaing o gas-ranges, and ha here is no necessiy o reduce hequaliy o lighing gas o sui any supposed sandard or heaing gas. Economy,however, may necessiae ha as coals o high-class qualiy ail or ge scarce, wemay require o use coals o lower-class qualiy; and i such be advisable or ligh-ing purposes, hen no harm will ensue or heaing operaions. Te primary useo gas is or lighing, and I have every condence ha cooking will adap isel ohe lighing necessiy o he ime. /





– 121 –

‘Electricity and the Electric Telegraph’, Cornhill

Magazine (1860)

‘Elecriciy and he Elecric elegraph’, Cornhill Magazine, 2:7 (July 1860), pp.61–73.

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Beore enering on he quesion o he applicaion o elecriciy o elegraphy,a brie recapiulaion o he grea physical acs on which every aemp o hekind has been based will render he subjec more inelligible o he uniniiaed.Fricional, or, as i is commonly ermed, statical elecriciy, evolved by rubbing glass or kindred subsances, is possessed o he propery o aracing ligh sub-

sances, such as shreds o paper or pih balls. I also emis sparks, eiher in he process o evoluion, or in is accumulaed sae, as in he discharge o Leyden jars.1 Volaic elecriciy, evolved by chemical change, chemical combinaion, andhe conac o wo dissimilar meals, causes a magneic needle o deviae romis naural posiion; i coners magneism on so iron; and i also possesses he

power o decomposing numerous chemical combinaions in soluion. Magneo-elecriciy, evolved by he approximaion2 o a bar o magneized seel o a coilo wire, ollowed by is sudden wihdrawal, produces efecs precisely similar ohose o volaic elecriciy.

Te quesion o he invenion o he elecric elegraph has long been a sorely vexed one. Te honour has been claimed or America, or England, and or nearlyevery counry on he coninen. Te scienic world is doubless divided in is

opinions as o he pracicabiliy o hose early invenions which were workedby means o ricional elecriciy. Bu a series o experimens insiued in 1816,showed ha he obsacles which had so requenly ba ed preceding invenors,

were parly o a pecuniary naure, and were no hereore absoluely insurmoun-able. Te quesion, hus exricaed rom a labyrinh o prejudice, o conicing claims, and o sill more conicing opinions, migh hereore assume somewhao he ollowing hisorical developmen. One hundred and seven years ago, here




appeared in he Scots’ Magazine a remarkable leer daed rom Renrew, andheaded, ‘An Expediious Mehod or Conveying Inelligence.’3 Premising haelecriciy is ransmissible hrough a shor wire wihou any apparen diminuiono inensiy, he wrier shows how, in his opinion, i may be urned o pracicalaccoun. Exend wires, equal in number o he leers o he alphabe, beweenwo disan places; suppor hem a inervals on glass xed o solid bodies; leeach wire erminae in a ball; place beneah each ball, a shred o paper on whichhe corresponding leer o he alphabe has been prined. Bring he urher endo he rs wire ino conac wih an excied glass ube,4 and he paper ‘A’ willinsanly rise / o he rs ball, in virue o he principle o aracion. Tus he

whole alphabe may be represened. A series o elecrical bells, decreasing in onerom ‘A’ o ‘Z,’ may be employed insead o he paper. Possible objecions areanicipaed and me, by showing how he wires may be insulaed hroughou.

Such was he rs elecric elegraph invened in 1753; an insrumen he-oreically accurae in every deail, alhough rendered impracicable or anyconsiderable disance by is cumbrous arrangemen o wires. Bu he genius

which was capable o conriving, was, no doub, equal o he ask o improv-ing. Lile is known o he invenor, beyond he ac ha an elderly Scoch ladyremembered a ‘very clever man’ o obscure posiion, named Charles Marshall,

who could make ‘lichnin’5 wrie an’ speak;’ and who could ‘lich a room wi’coal-reek’ ( Anglice6 – coal-smoke). However humble he sphere in which hemoved, Marshall was clearly a man o no ordinary inellec. Mark he signi-

cance o his words, – ‘ An Expeditious Method or Conveying Intelligence! ’ A aime when he very alphabe o he science was unormed, he saw wha had noonly escaped he acue inellec o Franklin, bu wha had evidenly never beendream o by men who inheried he hrones o Newon, o Halley, and o Boyle.In describing he inellecual aspecs o ha hal-cenury, which no only sawReid and Smih, Hume and Roberson,7 in he zenih o heir ame, bu gavebirh o Burns, o Sco, and o Carlyle, some uure Macaulay may adorn his‘picured page’ by sories o humble Scochmen, who gave o civilizaion heseam-engine, he seam-ship, he elecric elegraph, and he gas wih which weligh our houses and our srees.

In he year 1774, Le Sage, a Frenchman, residen in Geneva, 8 who has beenhihero recognized by many as he originaor o elecric communicaion, sub-

mied a plan o Frederick o Prussia, which difered so slighly rom ha which we have jus described, ha an accoun o i migh seem a riacimento9 o heleer o Charles Marshall. Te nex we read o, ha o M. Lomond, appearedin 1787, and consised o only one wire; he signals being indicaed by hearacion and repulsion o pih balls. Arhur Young – who explains he modusoperandi in his ravels – describes he invenor as a ‘very ingenious and inven-ive mechanic.’ ‘As he lengh o he wire makes no diference in he efec,’ says



‘Electricity and the Electric elegraph’ 123

he clever and vivacious advocae o la grande culture, ‘a correspondence might be carried on at any distance.’10 Oher projecs ollowed, in some o which heacive principle was ha o he discharge o Leyden jars; he rs suggesion o

which was made so early as 1767, by a proessor o naural philosophy in Rome,named Bozolus, and no by Cavallo,11 as has been hihero supposed. Each andall o hose aemps may, however, be jusly regarded as experimens, as i wasno unil 1816 ha heir pracicabiliy or a disance o eigh or en miles wassaisacorily demonsraed by Mr. Ronalds, o Hammersmih;12 who, by he

provision o perec insulaion, overcame, o some exen, he di culies whichhad so requenly ba ed his predecessors. Abou ha period, however, he

superioriy o / Volaic elecriciy over ha o ricion or such purposes becameapparen. Te ormer is regular, conrollable, and easily held in is legiimaechannel, whils he laer is unseady, and remarkable or is high ension, escap-ing easily rom is conducors.

During he succeeding weny years several invenions appeared, some o which were ailures, whils ohers were more or less successul on a limied scale.Sill, grave doubs exised, even in he minds o some disinguished philoso-

phers, as o he pracicabiliy o such schemes or grea disances, unil Proessor Wheasone13 assered, in 1834, ha he velociy o elecriciy exceeded 280,000miles in a second. Tree years laer, he, in conjuncion wih Mr. Cooke, paenedan invenion which, in one sense, deserves o be recognized in he same ligh ashe rs seam-engine o Wa; and which, aer having undergone numerous

improvemens, ulimaely assumed he orm o ha ‘double-needle’ insrumenso common in his counry. On he nigh o he 25h o June, 1837, his amousinvenion was subjeced o rial in he presence o several disinguished men; –

prominen among whom was he lae Rober Sephenson. Wires sreching romEuson Square o Camden own were conneced wih he insrumens. A he oneend sood he able and energeic Mr. Cooke, a he oher his coadjuor, Proessor

Wheasone. Te experimen was successul. ‘Never,’ says one o he invenors,‘never did I eel such a umuluous sensaion beore, as, when all alone in he sillroom, I heard he needles click; and as I spelled he words, I el all he magniudeo he invenion, now proved o be pracicable beyond cavil or dispue.’14

Anoher insrumen, mos exensively employed, is he recording one,invened in he auumn o 1837, by Proessor Morse.15 In a leer addressed o he

Secreary o he reasury o he Unied Saes, wrien in Sepember o ha year,he invenor says:– ‘Abou ve years ago, on my voyage home rom Europe, heelecric experimen o Franklin upon a wire some our miles in lengh was casuallyrecalled o my mind in a conversaion wih one o he passengers, in which experi-men i was ascerained ha he elecriciy ravelled hrough he whole circui ina ime apparenly insananeous. I immediaely occurred o me, ha i he pres-ence o elecriciy could be made visible in any par o his circui, i would no be





‘Electricity and the Electric elegraph’ 125

reservoir o superabundan elecriciy. Te advocaes o he oher heory main-ain ha he uid, saring rom he zinc, raverses he long wire, and reurnshrough he inervening ground o he copper plae. Should he quesion beasked, ‘Why should a curren ransmied rom Edinburgh o London no goelsewhere, raher han reurn o he precise poin whence i sared?’ he answergiven is, ha he ground beween he wo places orms one hal o he circui –being equivalen o a ‘reurn’ wire. A curren canno be generaed in any baeryunless an absoluely unbroken circui exiss – unless we provide a way, howeverroundabou, whereby he uid evolved a one pole may reurn o he oher. Tebaery has been in his case no inaply / compared o a loaded gun; he com-

pleion o he circui being equivalen o he all o he rigger. A single pair o plaes produces oo eeble a curren or elegraphic purposes, however, and i isound necessary o muliply he number by arranging a series o zinc and cop-

per alernaely in a rough. Te combined orce hus obained may be said o be proporioned o he increase in number.

Te needle insrumen, which is now in operaion over probably 25,000miles o wire in England and Scoland alone, is based on he principle o hedeviaion o a magneic needle when subjeced o elecric inuence. I he oneend o a elegraphic wire, sreching rom Edinburgh, and having is oherexremiy buried in he earth in London, be conneced wih he zinc pole o abaery which has is copper one in meallic conac wih he ground, a curren,originaing a he zinc, will ow along he wire o London, plunge here ino

he ground, and reurn hrough he inervening earh beween he wo ciieso he copper. I while his curren is owing, a magneic needle be placed inclose proximiy o he wire a any poin beween he wo places, i will swing round rom is naural posiion, and place isel a righ angles; hus, insead o

poining norhwards, i will poin, say, owards he wes. Now i we reverse heconnecions o he baery in Edinburgh, by puing he wire ino conac wihhe copper end, whils he zinc is conneced o he ground, he magneic needle

would sill place isel a righ angles o he wire; bu in his case i would swing round o an opposie direcion, and poin easwards. I a Schwiegger’s Muli-

plier, as described by Moigno,21 be inerposed a London, so that the current will fow round its convolutions beore entering the ground , he magneic needle placed

inside will deviae rom is verical posiion, say o he right; and i he baery

connecions be reversed in Edinburgh as ormerly, i will change o he le .Such an arrangemen would be o all inens and purposes an elecric el-

egraph. Any person in Edinburgh, having conrol over he baery, mighransmi a will a series o preconcered signals, consising o movemens o herigh and o he le, inelligible o some one in London. Now i boh ciies are

provided wih baeries and wih Schwiegger’s Mulipliers, i is obvious ha hecommunicaion could be made reciprocal, so ha Edinburgh could no only












We produce ligh and hea; we hrow a sone ino he air wih an absolue con- vicion ha i will all o he ground. Tere are laws o ligh and o hea, andhere is a law o graviaion. Bu a law implies somehing – a orce, an agency;and wha are hose orces or agencies? We alk proudly o ‘man’s dominion overnaure,’ o ‘scanning he heavens,’ o ‘aming he lighning,’ bu we can see lilebeyond he shows o hings. Te shadow is here, bu he subsance eludes ourgrasp. Like he physiognomis, we may indeed decipher somehing o Naurerom he aspec o her counenance, bu we canno see he workings o herinmos hear. Te greaes philosopher among us is sill, as in he days o New-on, like a child sanding on he seashore. Te illimiable ocean lies ousrechedbeore him. Now and hen she cass a pearl a his ee. Bu her riches reasureslie ar down in hose unahomable dephs which moral hand can never reach,and moral eye can never pierce. /



– 131 –

‘Electricity as a Light-Producer’, Chambers Journal (1877)

‘Elecriciy as a Ligh-Producer’, Chambers Journal , 721 (20 Ocober 1877), pp. 667–9.

ELECRICIY AS A LIGH-PRODUCER.

It has long been he opinion o scienic people ha in elecriciy we have a power he developmen o which is only a presen in is inancy. Te marvellousdeails o our elegraphic sysem consanly remind us ha here is a myseriousuid round abou us which can o a cerain exen be made subservien and obe-dien o he will o man. Tis amiliariy wih ha which would a ew cenuriesago have been sigmaised as he oucome o sorcery, has led he ignoran o placea blind belie in is powers. Te suble uid has in ac aken he place o he

necromancer’s wand, and is believed by many o be capable o anyhing or every-hing. Te elecrician is hus credied wih much ha does no o righ belong ohis domain, and he wildes speculaions are occasionally indulged in as o whanex he will do or us. Ta elecriciy will prove o ar more exended use hanhe presen sae o knowledge allows, we all have vague anicipaions, and among hese is he reasonable hope ha i will some day supersede coal-gas as a meanso aricial illuminaion. We propose, by a brie review o he presen posiion o elecrical research, o poin ou how ar such a hope is jusied by acs.

Sir Humphry Davy1 was he rs o discover ha when he erminal wireso a powerul elecric baery were urnished wih carbon-poins and broughino such a posiion ha hey almos ouched, he space beween hem becamebridged over wih a dazzling arc o ligh. Te excessive cos o producing his

ligh (owing o he rapid consumpion o he meal-plaes and acids whichogeher orm he baery-power) rendered i or a long ime almos inapplica-ble o any oher purpose han ha o lecure-room demonsraion. Bu i waseviden o all ha a means o illuminaion so nearly approaching in is inensiyhe ligh o he sun, would, i pracicable, be o immense value o sociey a large.Apar rom is cos, here were many oher hindrances o is ready adopion. Teincandescen carbon-poins – which we may here remark are cu rom a hard




orm o gas-coke – were ound o wase away unequally. Some plan had hereoreo be hi upon o no only replacing hem a cerain inervals, bu also, in view o his inequaliy o consumpion, o preserving heir relaive disance he one romhe oher; oherwise he ligh hey gave became inermien and irregular. Tesedi culies were me by employing clock-work as a regulaor, and more recenlyby a rain o wheelwork and magnes se in moion by he curren isel. Tesearrangemens naurally led o complicaions, which required he consan super-

vision o skilled operaors, and he coveed ligh was necessarily conned o useso a special naure where he quesion o cos and rouble was unimporan.

Te use o he baery or he elecric ligh has or some years been almos

enirely superseded by he magneo-elecric machine. Te consrucion o his machine is based upon Faraday’s discovery,2 ha when a piece o so ironinclosed in a coil o meal wire is caused o pass by he poles o a magne, an elec-ric curren is produced in he wire. Te common orm o his machine consisso a number o such iron cores so arranged upon a revolving cylinder ha in con-inual succession hey y pas a number o saionary horse-shoe magnes placedin a rame round is circumerence. By a piece o mechanism called a commua-or, he various small sreams o elecriciy hus induced are colleced ogeherino one powerul curren. Tis invenion orms one o he mos advanced sepsin he hisory o he elecric ligh. Bu alhough i produces elecriciy wihouhe consumpion o meal involved in he baery sysem, anoher elemen o cos comes ino view in he expense o he seam-power necessary o work i;

besides which he original oulay is considerable.In he year 1853 a Company was ormed a Paris or producing (by he aid o

some large magneo-elecric machines) gas or combusion, by he decomposi-ion o waer. Te Company ailed o produce gas, and wha was perhaps more ohe annoyance o he subscribers, hey ailed also o shew any dividends, and heexpensive machines were voed imposors. However, an Englishman, Mr Holms,3 succeeded in urning hem o beer accoun, and evenually produced by heir aida ligh o grea power. Mr Wilde o Mancheser4 was anoher worker in he sameeld; and improved machines were soon inroduced o public noice by boh gen-lemen. A ew years aer, he Souh Foreland and Dungeness lighhouses were

provided wih experimenal lighs. (Te rs-named headland had previouslybeen urnished wih an oxyhydrogen or lime ligh,5 a source o illuminaion which

is also open o he same objecions o requiring consan aenion and renewal.)I is a maer o surprise o mos visiors o he Souh Foreland lighhouse o

nd ha a small acory and saf o men are necessary o keep he elecric appa-raus in working order. Te exen o he esablishmen is parly explained by heac ha, in case o a breakdown o any par o he apparaus, everyhing is kepin duplicae. Hence here are wo en horse-power seam-engines, and a doublese o magneo-elecric machines, alhough only hal ha number are in acual



‘Electricity as a Light-Producer’ 133

use a one ime. Te old oil-lamps are also kep ready, in view o he improbableeven o boh ses o elecrical apparaus going wrong.

Alhough lighhouses were he rs places o which elecrical illuminaion was applied, here are many oher purposes or which ha species o ligh isinvaluable. One o he chie o hese is is use in submarine operaions. Unlikeoher lighs, being quie independen o amospheric air or any kind o gas oris suppor, and merely requiring an aachmen o a couple o gua-percha-covered wires6 or is connecion wih he source o elecriciy (which may bea a considerable disance rom he place o combusion), i is specially appli-cable o he use o divers. Te imporance o a means o brillianly lighing he

work o hose engaged in clearing wreck or laying he oundaions o subaque-ous srucures canno be over-esimaed. Tere is anoher service oo in which we may hope some day o see i commonly employed: we mean as a source o ligh o our miners. For his purpose, he burner could be placed in a hick glassglobe hermeically closed;7 / in ac he globe migh even be exhaused o air,or experimens prove ha he ligh is in several respecs improved when burnin a vacuum! Te danger o re-damp explosion would by his means be almosalogeher obviaed; or unless he glass were broken (and abundan means sug-ges hemselves or proecing i), no communicaion could be made beweenhe ligh and he gas-laden air o he mine. As a means o nigh-signalling, heelecric ligh can also be proably applied. Tis can be done by an alphabeo ashes o varying duraion; he readiness wih which he ligh can be exin-

guished and rekindled by he mere ouch o a wire, rendering i peculiarlyadaped or such a purpose; while he disance a which i can be seen is perhapsonly limied by he convexiy o he earh. Several o Her Majesy’s ships are nowbeing ed wih he elecric ligh, which is o serve boh or signalling purposes,and as a precauionary measure agains he aack o orpedo-boas. For miliaryeld operaions a brillian ligh is oen useul; and an elecrical apparaus is inacual use by one o he belligerens in he presen war.8 In his case, he ligh isdoubless worked by an elecric baery, as a seam-engine is hardly a convenienaddiion o he impedimena o a moving column.

Having called our readers’ aenion o he several special public uses or which he elecric ligh is available, we may now consider how ar i can serveus or he more common wans o every-day lie. In is crude sae as we have

described i, governed by such a ouchy hing as clock-work, i could no pos-sibly compee wih gas or ordinary purposes. Bu one or wo improvemenshave wihin he las ew monhs been made, which have led many o hope hahe day is no ar disan when he ligh will become common in our srees, i no in our houses.

Tese improvemens are wo in number. Te one is a plan whereby he elec-ric curren can be subdivided so as o serve a number o diferen lighs, and he




oher is an improvemen in he arrangemen o he burner. Te rs-menionedinvenion seems mos cerainly o bring he sysem more on a par wih gas-ligh-ing, only ha wires ake he place o pipes. Bu he second ofers eaures o amore novel characer. Te carbons, insead o being placed poin o poin, oneabove he oher, as in he old sysem, are pu side by side and made ino a kindo candle. Te carbons hereore represen a double wick; while he porion o he candle usually made o allow is made o kaolin, a orm o whie clay used inhe manuacure o porcelain. Te poins are hus kep a a xed disance apar;and as hey burn, hey viriy he kaolin beween hem, which boh checks heir

wase and adds, by is incandescence, o he ligh produced. Te old di culy

o keeping he carbons apar by he aid o clock-work, hereore disappears. Teinvenion o his ‘elecric candle’ is due o a Russian engineer, M. Jablochkof.9 Anoher plan which is also credied o he same invenor is ha o doing away

wih he carbon-poins alogeher, and subsiuing or hem a hin plae o kao-lin. Te ligh produced is said o be soer, seadier, and more consan han haobained by any previous mehod. Successul experimens wih M. Jablochkof ’sinvenion boh in France and England have shewn i o be readily applicable omany purposes. I was laely ried a he Wes India Docks, London, where is

power o illuminaing large areas or he purpose (among ohers) o unloading ships by nigh, was ully demonsraed. Moreover, is porabiliy is such ha ican be carried ino he dephs o a ship’s hold. We may menion as a resul o hese experimens, ha he various gas companies’ shares have been depreciaed

o a considerable exen.Meanwhile, improvemens in he magneo-elecric machine have no been

waning; Siemens10 in England and Gramme11 in France have succeeded inobaining inense currens rom machines ar less bulky han hose o he old

paern. Bu sill seam-power is required o se hem in moion, and unil hisis obviaed, we canno expec ha he elecric ligh can become really availableor more general use. Te invenors claim ha heir mehod o illuminaion is,or he amoun o ligh obained, ar cheaper han any oher known, pleading ha one burner is equal o one hundred gas-lighs. Bu we mus remember haor ordinary purposes his amoun o ligh is ar beyond our needs. In acories

where seam-power is already available, and where he ligh would supersede alarge number o gas-burners, i can o course be employed wih pro. Indeed we

learn ha a several large workshops in diferen pars o France he ligh is inacual use wih he bes resuls. Some o he railway saions boh here and inBelgium are also making arrangemens or is immediae adopion.

Te problem, however, which has now o be solved is, wheher he ligh canbe made available or domesic purposes. We ear ha he necessary moive-

power presens an insuperable objecion; or alhough, as we have explained,one engine will eed a cerain number o lighs, i will bear no comparison in his



‘Electricity as a Light-Producer’ 135

respec wih he capabiliies o a small gas-holder. Besides which, a man wouldhave ar more di culy and expense in saring a seam-engine in his back-gar-den han he would have (as is commonly done in counry disrics) in ounding a small gas-acory or he supply o his premises. Wihou losing sigh o hebenes which coal-gas has given us, we may hope ha i is no he las and beskind o aricial illuminaion open o us. I blackens our ceilings and walls; ispoils our books and picures, besides robbing our dwellings o oxygen, and giv-ing us insead a close and unhealhy amosphere. Te combusion o elecriciyis on he oher hand, as we have already shewn, independent o any supply o air ;and insead o viiaing he amosphere, i adds o i a supply o ha sea-sideluxury ozone, which may ruly be said o be ‘recommended by he aculy.’12 Besides hese advanages, i can be used wihou any sensible rise o emperaure.Anoher grea advanage which is use secures is is acinic 13 qualiies, which

would enable ariss and all whose work depends upon a correc appreciaion o colours, o be independen o dayligh.

In conclusion, we may say ha, beyond he special uses or he elecric ligh which we have enumeraed, and or which i has by experience been ound prac-icable, we see no likelihood o is more general adopion unil wo requisies arediscovered. Te one is a subsance ha will, wihou wasing away and requiring consan renewal, ac as an incandescen burner; and he / oher is a cheap andready mehod o obaining he elecric uid. For he ormer we know no whereo look, or even he hardes diamond disappears under conac wih he elecric

poles. Bu wih regard o he laer, we canno help hinking how, many yearsago, Franklin14 succeeded by he aid o a kie-sring in drawing elecriciy romhe clouds. Is i oo much o hope ha oher philosophers may discover somemeans no only o obaining he luminous uid rom he same source, bu o soring i up or he bene o all?

•



442 Notes to pages 111–21

Macadam, Te Sanitary Aspects o Cooking and Heating by Coal Gas

1. Stevenson Macadam: Dr Stevenson Macadam (c . 1830–1901) was the author o a suc-cessul textbook, Practical Chemistry(London and Edinburgh: William and RobertChambers, 1865), with urther editions in 1866, 1867, 1869, 1871 and 1883 and o aschool textbook, Te Chemistry o Common Tings (London, Edinburgh and New York:. Nelson and Sons, 1866). He declared himsel to be a lecturer at the Medical School,Surgeon’s Hall and at the School o Arts in Edinburgh, a Fellow o the Royal Societyo Edinburgh and a Fellow o the Chemical Society in these publications; in this, later,

publication he also reers to himsel as a Consulting Analytical Chemist and a Fellow o the Institute o Chemistry.

2. the Exhibition: Te Glasgow Gas Exhibition, opened on 28 September 1880.

3. Kitchener : ‘A cooking-range tted with various appliances such as ovens, plate-warmers, water-heaters, etc.’ (OED, which gives the rst usage in this sense as 1851).

4. the Bunsen principle: Robert Wilhelm Eberhard Bunsen (1811–99), proessor o chem-istry at Marburg, Breslau and nally, rom 1852, Heidelberg universities. Invented themagnesium light, widely used in photography, in 1860. With Gustav Kirchhof (1824–87) pioneered the study o the emission spectra o heated elements. Te Bunsen burneruses the principle o a blowpipe, mixing large quantities o air with the gas beore igni-tion to produce a smokeless ame o low luminosity but high heating power.

5. 340° Fahr.: 340° Fahrenheit, or about 170° Celsius or gas mark 4, a ‘moderate’ or‘medium’ oven.

6. 400°… 500° : 400° F. is about 200° Celsius or gas mark 6, a ‘moderately hot’ oven; 500° F.is about 260° Celsius and is of the temperature scale o modern ovens which goes up to475° F. or 246° Celsius, gas mark 9 (‘very hot’).

7. an ordinary middle-class household : Te 1881 Census o Scotland shows Macadam’shousehold (himsel, his wie and three teenage or adult children) to have been attendedby three live-in servants, a relatively large number or a household o this size and compo-sition. It seems likely that his assumptions o what an ‘ordinary’ middle-class household

was like were coloured by his own comortable circumstances.8. brander : A gridiron (OED) presumably so-called because it imparts marks like the

branding marks on livestock to meat cooked upon it.9. carbonic acid … oily hydrocarbons: Carbonic acid is carbon dioxide, CO2. Sulphurous

acid has the molecular ormula H2SO3. Carbonic oxide is carbon monoxide, CO. Acet- ylene is the explosive producer o bright light, rst produced on a commercial scale in1895, with molecular ormula C2H2.

10. 268 grains … 821 grains: Tere are 7,000 grains (gr) in 1 lb avoirdupois. A grain is nowdened as exactly 64.79891 mg in the International System o Units. So 268 gr is about0.6 o an ounce or about 17 g; 821 gr is about 1.9 oz or about 53 g.

11. osmazome: ‘A name ormerly given to that substance or mixture o substances soluble in water and alcohol which gives meat its avour and smell; (more generally) meat juice orextract’ (OED).

12. cannel gas: Gas obtained rom cannel coal. See note 3 to Practical Economy, above.

‘Electricity and the Electric elegraph’, Cornhill Magazine

1. Leyden jars: Devices that appear to store static electricity.



Notes to pages 121–3 443

2. approximation: Te action o bringing close; literally, as here, as well as guratively(OED).

3. An Expeditious Method or Conveying Intelligence: C. M., ‘o the Author o the ScotsMagazine’, Scots Magazine 15 (February 1753), pp. 73–4. For ‘C. M.,’ see the text, below.

4. excited glass tube: A Leyden jar.5. ‘lichtnin’ : lightning.6. Anglice: Latin: ‘in English’.7. Reid and Smith, Hume and Robertson: Tomas Reid (1710–96), natural and moral phi-

losopher; the author o an Inquiry into the Human Mind, on the Principles o CommonSense (Dublin: Printed or Alexander Ewing, 1764) which contested the theory o ideas

propagated by Descartes, Locke, and Malebranche. Adam Smith (bapt. 1723 d. 1790),the philosopher and political economist. David Hume (1711–76), the philosopher and

historian. William Robertson (1721–93), a Scottish historian now largely orgotten butin his time thought to be the equal o Hume and Gibbon (ODNB).

8. a Frenchman, resident in Geneva: Georges-Louis Le Sage (1724–1803), a physicist andmathematician, was born and died in Geneva and is sometimes accounted a Swiss; his

parents were French. He is now mainly remembered or his theor y o gravitation.9. riacimento: Italian; a reworking.10. at any distance: Arthur Young, ravels, During the Years 1787, 1788, and 1789. Under-

taken More Particularly with a View o Ascertaining the Cultivation, Wealth, Resources, and National Prosperity, o the Kingdom o France (Bury St Edmund’s: printed by J. Rack-ham; or W. Richardson, Royal-Exchange, London, 1792), p. 65. A uller quotationseems worthwhile. Young is in Paris and writes:

In the evening to Mons. Lomond, a very ingenious and inventive mechanic, whohas made an improvement o the jenny or spinning cotton. Common machines

are said to make too hard a thread or certain abrics, but this orms is looseand spongy. In electricity he has made a remarkable discovery: you write two orthree words on a paper; he takes it with him into a room, and turns a machineinclosed in a cylindrical case, at the top o which is an electrometer, a small ne

pith ball; a wire connects with a similar cylinder and electrometer in a distantapartment; and his wie, by remarking the corresponding motions o the ball,

writes down the words they indicate: rom which it appears that he has ormedan alphabet o motions. As the length o the wire makes no diference in theefect, a correspondence might be carried on at any distance: within and withouta besieged town, or instance; or or a purpose much more worthy, and a thou-sand times more harmless, between two lovers prohibited or prevented rom anybetter connection. Whatever the use may be, the invention is beautiul. Mons.Lomond has many other curious machines, all the entire work o his own hands:

mechanical invention seems in him a natural propensity. In the evening to theComedie Française.

11. Cavallo: iberius, or iberio, Cavallo (1749–1809) born in Naples but came to Englandin 1771 and stayed in England or the rest o his lie. Published A Complete reatiseon Electricity in Teory and Practice: With Original Experiments (London: Printed orEdward and Charles Dilly, 1777); elected a Fellow o the Royal Society in 1779 (ODNB).

12. Mr. Ronalds o Hammersmith: Sir Francis Ronalds (1788–1873) inventor, meteorologistand bibliographer. In 1823 he published his Description o an Electric elegraph and o




some other Electrical Apparatus ( London: Printed or R. Hunter, 1823). As a boy Charles Wheatstone saw his experiments. Knighted 1870 (ODNB).

13. Proessor Wheatstone: Sir Charles Wheatstone (1802–75). In 1834 appointed Proessoro Experimental Philosophy at King’s College, London, where he began experiments todetermine the speed o electric currents in copper wire, obtaining a result o 288,000miles per hour in comparison with the modern estimate o about 186,000 m.p.h. Fromthese experiments he moved on, in conjunction with William Fothergill Cooke (1806–79), the ‘Mr. Cooke’ o the text, to the construction o a practical telegraph, patented byCooke and Wheatstone jointly in 1837 (ODNB).

14. ‘Never…dispute’ : Te words were Wheatstone’s and were quoted by John Munro (1849–1930) in his Heroes o the elegraph (London: Te Religious ract Society, 1891).

15. Proessor Morse: Samuel Finley Breese Morse (1791–1872), the US inventor o the sin-

gle-wire telegraph and the Morse Code. He conceived the ormer invention in 1832,built an experimental version in 1835 and a practical system in 1844 but did not applyor a patent until 1849.

16. Mr. Edward Davy: Edward Davy (1806–85), chemist. He invented a telegraph systemusing a relay system in which the electric current was augmented by batteries at intervalsalong the route thus compensating or the normal attenuation o the current with dis-tance. He published his Outline o a New Plan o elegraphic Communication in 1836.

17. Bain … ‘ar north’ : Alexander Bain (1810–77) clockmaker. Te son o a croer. Heinvented an electric clock patented in 1841, and an experimental ‘printing telegraph’,

patented in 1843 and now sometimes regarded as a precursor to the acsimile machine.Te ‘chemical telegraph’ mentioned in the text’s next sentence used the electric currento the telegraph message to make marks on a moving paper tape soaked in a mixture o ammonium nitrate and potassium errocyanide. Te paper turned blue when a current

passed through it. Watten, Bain’s birthplace, is a village in Caithness between Wick and

Turso in the ar north o Scotland (ODNB).18. uid : Electricity.19. Volta: Count Alessandro Giuseppe Antonio Anastasio Volta (1745–1827) the Italian

physicist who, in 1800, invented the electric battery.20. Fabroni: or more usually Fabbroni: Giovanni Valentino Mattia Fabbroni (1752–1822)

an Italian naturalist and chemist. One o the earliest to suggest that electrical phenomenahad a chemical origin.

21. Schwiegger’s Multiplier … Moigno: the name is variously spelled as Schwieger. Schweigerand Schweigger. Moigno is the Abbé Moigno, François-Napoléon-Marie Moigno(1804–84) a French Jesuit physicist and science popularizer. He published a raité deé lé graphie Électrique, Renermant son Histoire, sa Té orie et la Description des Appareils

avec les Deux Mé moires de M. Wheatstone sur la Vitesse et la Dé termination des Courantsd’Électricité , et un Mé moire Iné dit d’Ampère sur la Té orie Electro-chimique (Paris: A.Franck, 1849).

22. A and B cipher o Lord Bacon: Francis Bacon, rst Viscount Saint Albans (1561–1626),the philosopher and politician. His A and B cypher was partly a method o steganography(a method o hiding a message rather than translating it into a code). Te method was intwo stages. In the rst stage each letter o the plaintext was transormed into a combina-tion o ve As or Bs. For example ‘a’ was transormed to ‘AAAAA’, ‘b’ to ‘AAAAB’, etc.Tis yields a coded text. In the second stage an innocuous text o the same length as thecoded text is ound or composed. Each letter o the innocuous text is then transormedone way i it corresponds to an ‘A’ in the coded text, another way i it corresponds to a ‘B’;






5. lime light : Current usage is almost entirely metaphorical. Tis, the literal meaning, reersto ‘light produced by a blowpipe-ame directed against a block o pure, compressedquicklime. Te lime … becomes brilliantly incandescent.’ Te candle-power o the lightdepended on the ame and its uel. Combinations o oxygen, coal-gas, benzoline andhydrogen were used, oen under pressure. Te most powerul in use by the end o thenineteenth century used warm oxygen saturated with benzoline giving a light o up to1,350 candles (Chambers Encyclopædia, s.v. Lime-light).

6. gutta-percha-covered wires : See note 26 to ‘Electricity and the Electric elegraph’, above.7. thick glass globe hermetically closed : Te author here clearly anticipates the invention o

the incandescent lightbulb usually credited to Joseph Swan and Tomas Edison and pat-ented in 1879–80. However, the idea had occurred to many and had been demonstratedby James Bowman Lindsay in 1835, Warren de la Rue in 1840 and a number o others

subsequently.8. the present war : Te Russo–urkish War o 1877–8.9. M. Jablochkof : Pavel Nikolayevich Yablochkov (1847–94). His ‘electric candle’ or

‘Yablochkov candle’, was a orm o arc lamp. Yablochkov developed a lighting systemcomplete with dynamos in Paris. In October 1877, the same month the present text was

published, the system was used or the rst time, to illuminate the Halle Marengo o theMagasins du Louvre in Paris.

10. Siemens: Sir (Charles) William Siemens (1823–83), the renowned electrical engineerand metallurgist. His elder brother, Werner, who co-ounded the rm Siemens and Hal-ske in Berlin in 1847 had invented a way o insulating telegraph wires with gutta-percha,making the submarine telegraph possible. William invented a ‘sel-exciting’ electricdynamo in which the current or the electromagnets was generated by the dynamo itsel,this dispensing with the necessity or permanent magnets. A naturalized British subject

rom 1859; knighted 1883 (ODNB).11. Gramme: Zénobe Téophile Gramme (1826–1901) was a Belgian electrical engineer who invented the ‘Gramme machine’, a dynamo capable o generating signicantlyhigher voltages than those previously possible. It was the rst electrical motor to be suc-cessul industrially.

12. ‘recommended by the aculty’: Tat is the aculty o medicine; doctors.13. actinic : Used o light to mean having the power to cause chemical changes (OED); pos-

sibly misused here to mean an absence o efect in perception on the colour o objects.14. Franklin: Benjamin Franklin. See note 11 to ‘On Warming and Ventilating’. He proposed

this, his most amous, experiment in 1750 and he may or may not have carried it out in1752. It was designed to show that lightning and electricity were identical. It led directlyto the invention o lightning conductors to protect buildings rom lightning strikes.

‘Te Prime Minister on Electricity’, Saturday Review1. Mr. Gladstone … very clearly: Te author is alluding to Gladstone’s writings on Homer

(Studies on Homer and the Homeric Age, 3 vols (Oxord: Oxord University Press,1858)), ormerly largely ignored by his biographers but treated seriously by both RichardShannon, in Gladstone, 2 vols (1982: London: Allen Lane, 1999) and H. C. G. Matthewin Gladstone, 2 vols (Oxord: Clarendon Press, 1986 and 1995). It is ully considered byDavid W. Bebbington, Te Mind o Gladstone: Religion, Homer, and Politics (Oxord:Oxord University Press, 2004).

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Sample Pages From Coal in Victorian Britain Part I Vol 1