clauses enough to enlighten any one, so far
as intention is concerned even to a single
grain of spermaceti in the sperm candle which
we are ordered to use as a photometric standard.

There has been a battle of the meters for some
years, as there was a battle of the gauges several
years ago. The meters range themselves in two
powerful armies—the wet and the dry—each
under a staff of skilful generals—the patentees;
and there is a kind of subsidiary battle between
the companies' meters and the consumers'
meters; the meters that are rented and the
meters that have been purchased. A gasmeter
is a curious and ingenious piece of
apparatus. A kind of drum is divided into four
equal portions by four partition walls. The
axis of this drum, works in the toothed wheel of
a spindle, and this into a train of wheel-work.
All the gas consumed in a shop or other building
passes through the drum before reaching
the burners, and makes it rotate; this makes
the spindle rotate more slowly, and this makes
a wheel rotate more slowly still, and so on,
until the last wheel has a very slow movement
indeed. Three of the wheels carry index hands,
which rotate in front of a graduated dial: one
hand goes round while a thousand cubic feet of
gas are passing through the meter, one while
ten thousand, and one while a hundred thousand
feet pass. There is water contained in the wet
meter; but the dry meter, with something of an
elastic or bellows-like action, is without water.
The minor details of construction are infinitely
varied; and each patentee is, of course, ready to
take his affidavit that his particular form is and
must be the best of all. At periodical intervals
the gas company's inspector comes to see how
much gas has been consumed; the position of
the index hands determines this; and then the
consumer is charged at (say) four shillings and
sixpence per thousand cubic feet. But, here's
the rub. Does the meter always tell the truth?
Do the wheels and hands always go round
properly? Consumers used to assert so
positively that the meters were often wrong, that
the government directed no less learned a person
than the astronomer royal to ferret out the
truth. He ascertained that such really was
the case, without any intentional dishonesty on
either side. Any error in adjusting the train of
wheels would certainly cause the meter to
indicate wrongly. The astronomer royal quoted a
case in point. " Complaint was made to a
branch gas-office of overcharge in a meter. The
meter was examined by the company's inspector,
and found correct. The complaint was repeated;
the meter was then examined by the official
inspector, and found correct. The complaint
was twice again repeated, and the meter was
twice again examined, and found correct. At
last the wheel-work was opened and examined;
and it was then found that, in consequence of the
insertion of an erroneous wheel, the just charge
for gas consumed was doubled. A considerable
sum was in consequence reimbursed to the
consumer."

The companies thought they had guarded
against such blunders. Every meter is tested
by the maker before being sold; it is again
tested by the company before being fixed;
and if the inspector at any time believes the
indications to be incorrect, he takes it to the
office for further scrutiny, leaving a correct one
in the mean time. The uncertainty in this
matter led the Board of Trade, six years ago, to
recommend legislative interference with the gas
trade. "In practice, the purchaser is almost
always supplied by the dealer with the meter.
In consequence of the complexity of the instrument,
and the absence of any legal test, an
ordinary purchaser is not able either to judge of
the correctness of the meter liimself, or, except
perhaps in the metropolis and other large
towns, to procure it to be tested by an independent
authority. He is therefore practically
dependent on the seller for the measurement
from which the charge is ascertained. A
purchaser of goods by yard measure or pound
weight can readily find an authentic test, and if
dissatisfied, can in most cases resort to another
dealer; but, in these particulars, the sale of gas
is materially different. These circumstances
appear to render it desirable that the sale of gas
should be guarded by a legal standard, and by
authenticated instruments of measurement."
Then followed the statute of eighteen hundred
and sixty, which has certainly diminished the
amount of meter-grumbling. Standard weights
and measures, very scrupulously made, are kept
at a government office for testing meters. The
meters are of different sizes, from two-light
up to a hundred-and-fifty-light and upwards.
Some companies charge a few shillings a year
rental for the use of the meters lent by them;
others include the use of the meter in the price
of the gas; while most or all of them allow the
consumer to use his own meter if preferred.

But concerning the light? Do our faces
brighten up at night as they ought if good
brilliant gas were used? Consumers are not
at all satisfied on this point. Dull gas is more
cheaply produced than bright gas; and the
companies are accused of misusing their monopoly
in this way. The chemical mysteries of a gas
retort show in how great a degree circumstances
determine the quality of the product. The best
gas comes from the coal early in the process,
and while the retort is vividly hot; if too long
continued, much more gas is obtained, but
deteriorated in quality. Newcastle Wallsend coal
yields nine or ten thousand cubic feet of gas per
ton; Lancashire cannel coal yields more; and
Boghead cannel still more. But not only so; a
given quantity of cannel yields a brighter light
than an equal weight of Wallsend; and thus the
companies make a difference in price between
cannel gas and common gas. If Boghead and
Newcastle were purchasable at the same price,
the former would, for a twofold reason, be
used in all gasworks: but it is very costly;
and a nice question arises as to the proportion
in which different kinds of coal can profitably
be mixed in the retorts.