All About Inventions and Discoveries
The Romance of modern scientific and mechanical Achievements

64 All About Inventions extraordinary splendour,” it must be remembered that this comparison was with the feeble flicker of the rush light and the dim glimmer of the whale- oil lamp, since at that time the illuminating pro- perties of petroleum oils were unknown. Indeed, very little, if anything, was known about mineral oils in those days, although natural or the original “ spirit ” gas had been known as an illuminant for centuries, especially in China. Accordingly, the introduction of coal-gas necessitated the design of a special type of burner, so as to secure the maximum of light with the minimum consumption of gas. It was Mur- doch himself who devised the “cockspur” burner. Subsequently there came the fish-tail and batswing burners which are still used. Many fertile experi- menters strove to improve upon these types, but they achieved only trifling and passing successes, their devices being so deficient in the essential features —simplicity of design and operation—as to prevent widespread adoption by the general public. The vogue of oil lamps, in the lattei part of the eighteenth century, induced a Swiss inventor, Argand, to devote his attention to the oil-lamp burner with a view to increasing the volume of illumination for a given consumption of oil. He succeeded, and his burner was extensively adopted owing to the many advantages it offered. When gas had established its popularity efforts were made to adapt the Argand oil wick burner to the new lighting agent. These efforts also terminated satisfactorily. In fact, the burner was brought to such a high standard of per- fection as to be considered impossible of being sur- passed. Then came the electric light and the spirited