a great quantity of water_.

The man who first applied the inflammability of gas to the purposes of
illumination, was Mr. Murdoch. This gentleman, residing at Soho, near
Birmingham, that hot-bed of ingenuity and mechanical science, on
occasion of the celebration of the peace of 1802, covered the works of
Soho with a light and splendour that astonished and delighted all the
population of the surrounding country. Mr. Murdoch had not attained to
this perfection without having had many difficulties to encounter. In
the year 1792, he used coal gas for lighting his house and offices, at
Redruth, in Cornwall; and in 1797 he again made a similar use of it at
Old Cunnock, in Ayrshire. At Soho, he constructed an apparatus which
enabled him to exhibit his plan on a larger scale than any he had
heretofore attempted. His experiments were then seduously continued,
with the able assistance of Mr. Southern and Mr. Henry Creighton, with
a view to ascertain not only the best modes of making, but also of
purifying and burning gas, so as to prevent either the smell or the
smoke from being offensive.

Previous to the public display made of the illuminating properties of
gas, at Soho, it had been applied to similar purposes, by a M. Le Bon,
of Paris. A friend of the gentlemen at Soho, wrote from Paris a letter,
dated November 8, 1801, to that establishment, informing them, that a
person had lighted up his house and gardens with the gas obtained from
wood and coal, and had it in contemplation to light up the city of
Paris. This is an important fact in the detail of the history of
gas-lighting; and we should be glad of further information respecting
the steps which led M. Le Bon to the results which he appears to have
obtained, and also respecting the fortunes which subsequently attended
the invention in France. However, M. Le Bon's exhibitions have a