138 P

wards and forwards onc above another in the outer air, or lying under water, the object bemng (o keep them cooll so that the was may be cradually robbed of 1ts heat as it passes along then,

I its passage through the main and the con- denser the gas deposits

lmm(muu';ll liquor and

tar. both of which are drained off, and utilized M various Wavs, T'he gas next enters v

the washer and serubber. It s brought constantly i contact with

water, which assimi- lates ammonia; and m the scrubber, o tower ol consider- able height, it s passed through a quantity of coke, shavings, and other materials saturated with water, 50 that it is really scrubbed as it progresses. I'rom the scrubber it goes to the purihiers, huge square boxes containing lavers of grids covered with lime and oxide of iron. After this, all that has to be done 1s to measure i oand store it We who have occasion to know only our own d()mcxtu meter, do not instantly recognisc its big brothers in the two station meters, which hl\ c been apthy likened Lo mausolcums.

Their size affords an idea of the volume of

cas which has sometimes Lo bhe made and measured. Some of the was will be sent along miles of mains to London, there to be plac el in holders ; some will he stored holders on the spot. We are fortunate m finding a holder in the course ol construction at Beckton., To the passer-by it is complete, bhut a walk over its top discovers a hole a vard squam down which we gaze cautiously. lhnt\ feet below 1s a body ol wi ltu and we sce that the entive structure 1s nlll)])o]t(,.‘(l by scaffold poles. A man on a ralt 13 pulling himscll from point to point by means of hooked stick. Comparatively few people, cven among gas-workers, have been inside ) ’ISh()l(]Lr, and it at once strikes us that a novel cxperience may be had if we choose to

STRAND

MAGAZINT

Gan-THToLDER,

consequences of - chimb down the swaving rope ladder. The ini‘orm"l- ton that a man was recently drowned 1 such o place only makes us serew our courage more up to the sticking poing, and another minute sces us on the ladder. Friendly hands below do o what they can to steady 1, but only a monkcey or an acrobat would make o respectable show on such a contrivance. Landed safely on the raft, the man in charge, whom we immediately dub our condolicr, pulls us round about through a puh ct maze of scaffolding which runs imm the hottom to the top like a monster umbrella rume. By-and-by the water will be continue (l right up to the rool, and it will surprise some to learn that the gas, when it enters the holder, rests on the water and forees the holder up, so that when the holder 1s full 1ts top is on a level with that ot the upright cirders which guide its actions, and its bottom (ml\ a4 foot or so beneath the surface of the water, the latter being ina giant stone tank. Water, it should he understood, 1s an absolute seal for gas, and 1t 1s a prac tical Im])()sSll)l]lt\ that a gasholder could, as many 1magmne, blow up. Such a disaster has certamly never been known.

risk the