Postby dognose » Mon Nov 05, 2018 5:16 am
James Slater being examined before a committee of the House of Commons regarding the purification of sulphur from the gas supply used in London:
Mr. James Slater, examined by Mr. O'Hara:
I am a partner in the firm of Holland, Son, and Slater, carrying on business at No. 16, Jewin Crescent, as manufacturing silversmiths. when I was first in business I did not burn gas. As my business increased, and buyers came in late in the evening, I was obliged to take to it, but though I took to it, I did it very unwillingly, and used it with very great distaste to myself. I found the evil effects of it, even in fine weather, upon my goods. Those effects were most seriously aggravated in foggy weather; gas and fog combined, I think, are the two evils that we have to contend with in London. In less than half an hour after the gas has been lighted, the goods in the upper part of the room in glass cases, near the ceiling, suffer the soonest; but to me it only seems to be a question of time and the size of the room. You have only to get on a pair of steps immediately the gas is lighted, and put your head up to the ceiling, and you feel the heat. After the gas has been lighted a little longer you need not go so near the ceiling to feel the effects from the gas. If you have goods on a table, at the level of that at which we are now sitting, they will be affected. You may say, " Then why not ventilate your room?" That is another weak point in London; people do not ventilate their rooms. I keep fires sufficiently large to keep the whole place thoroughly warm, which is of the highest importance with a stock like mine. I tried gas for the purpose, and had to abandon it in less than a month, for though I obtained heat, the smell was excessively unpleasant.
Cross-examined by Mr. Philbbick: I know it is, as a matter of general opinion, that the atmosphere of London and other large towns always contains a portion of sulphuric acid, and I am perfectly aware of the injurious effects produced by exposing plated goods to it.
The Chairman : Was the injury that you described, as occurring in rooms where you did burn gas, a kind of injury that would arise from the action of sulphuric acid upon plated silver?
Witness: Without being a chemist or a scientific person, I say decidedly so; and if the committee will permit me, I will give a very striking illustration of the difficulty I had to contend with. In my early career, when I objected to the use of gas, I had the misfortune to have some cases wrapped in a peculiar kind of paper. The goods got perfectly black. I had the paper tested, and it was coloured by some mercurial process. I had it removed and plain paper furnished, and my goods were kept with very great satisfaction. Then I introduced gas into the place, and in a smaller degree I had precisely the same results that I had had with the mercurial paper. I am not attempting to go into the question whether mercury and sulphuric acid have the same effects, but I am speaking of a practical result—that, upon the introduction of gas, my goods, if exposed to the action of gas, become tarnished in the same way, and the effect of this matter was so insidious, that instead of its being able to be removed quickly, it took the men some considerable labour. Our goods are polished —that is, polished by a man with rouge on the ball of his hand, and he had to do that. That I suffered from most.
And you attribute that to the effect of the gas, do you ?—I make no doubt of it.
Do you desire that it should be purified of this sulphurous element ?—I certainly do; and I am very much interested in gas operations. I am very sorry that there should be any depreciation in the quality of the gas, because when a fog comes on suddenly, there is a very short supply, and there is very great difficulty in getting adequate light. In my own house I would not have gas if it were given to me.
But you are not analyst enough yourself to say to what element in the gas this was due ?—No; I should be sorry to say anything but what comes under my own practical experience.
Sulphur Compounds in Gas: Report of the Proceedings Before a Committee of the House of Commons on the Crystal Palace District Gas and the Gaslight & Coke Company Bills - 1877
Trev.