Chapter XXII: Act 1874: ); and in valuing land whether for rates or taxes the value of (9)

This may be regarded as a fair example of the changes which take place
in the quality of the gas during the distillation of the coal. In
carburetting such a gas by injecting mineral oil into the retort, many
of the products of the decomposition of the oil being vapours, it
would be wasteful to do so for the first two hours, as a rich gas is
being given off which has not the power of carrying in suspension a
much larger quantity of hydrocarbon vapours without being
supersaturated with them. Consequently, to make it carry any further
quantity in a condition not easily deposited, the oil would have to be
completely decomposed into permanent gases, and the temperature
necessary to do this would seriously affect the quality of the gas
given off by the coal. When, however, the distillation has gone on
for three hours, the rich portions of coal have distilled off and the
temperature of the retort has reached its highest point, and this is
the best time to feed in the oil.

Undoubtedly the best process which has been proposed for the
production of oil gas to be used in the enrichment of coal gas is the
"Young" or "Peebles" process, which depends on the principle of
washing the oil gas retorted at a moderate temperature by means of oil
which is afterwards to undergo decomposition, because in this way it
is freed from all condensible vapours, and only permanent gases are
allowed to escape to the purifiers. In the course of this treatment
considerable quantities of the ethylenes and other fixed gases are
also absorbed, but no loss takes place, as these are again driven out
by the heat in the subsequent retorting. The gas obtained by the Young
process, when tested by itself in the burners most suited for its
combustion, gives on the photometer an illuminating value averaging
from 50 to 60 candle-power, but it is claimed, and quite correctly,
that the enriching power of the gas is considerably greater. This is
accounted for by the fact that it is impossible to construct a burner
which will do justice to a gas of such illuminating power.

The fundamental objections to oil gas for the enrichment of coal gas
are, first, that its manufacture is a slow process, requiring as much
plant and space for retorting as coal gas; and, secondly, that
although on a small scale it can be made to mix perfectly with coal
gas and water gas, great difficulties are found in doing this on the
large scale, because in spite of the fact that theoretically gases of
such widely different specific gravities ought to form a perfect
mixture by diffusion, layering of the gas is very apt to take place in
the holder, and thus there is an increased liability to wide
variations in the illuminating value of the gas sent out.

Enrichment by volatile hydrocarbons.

The wonderful carburetting power of benzol vapour is well known, a
large proportion of the total illuminating power of coal gas being due
to the presence of a minute trace of its vapour carried in suspension.
For many years the price of benzol has been falling, owing to the
large quantities produced in the coke ovens, and at its present price
it is by far the cheapest enriching material that can be obtained.
Hence at many gas-works where it is found necessary to do so it is
used in various forms of carburettor, in which it is volatilized and
its vapour used for enriching coal gas up to the requisite
illuminating power.

Enrichment by carburetted water gas.

One of the most generally adopted methods of enrichment now is by
means of carburetted water gas mixed with poor coal gas. When steam
acts upon carbon at a high temperature the resultant action may be
looked upon as giving a mixture of equal volumes of hydrogen and
carbon monoxide, both of which are inflammable but non-luminous gases.
This water gas is then carburetted, i.e. rendered luminous by passing
it through chambers in which oils are decomposed by heat, the mixture
being made so as to give an illuminating value of 22 to 25 candles.
This, mixed with the poor coal gas, brings up its illuminating value
to the required limit. Coke or anthracite is heated to incandescence
by an air blast in a generator lined with fire-brick, and the heated
products of combustion as they leave the generator and enter the
superheaters are supplied with more air, which causes the combustion
of carbon monoxide present in the producer gas and heats up the
fire-brick baffles with which the superheater is filled. When the
necessary temperature of the fuel and superheater has been reached,
the air blast is cut off, and steam is blown through the generator,
forming water gas, which meets the enriching oil at the top of the
first superheater, called the carburettor, and carries the vapours
with it through the main superheaters, where the fixing of the
hydrocarbons takes place. The chief advantage of this apparatus is
that a low temperature can be used for fixing owing to the enormous
surface for superheating, and thus to a great extent the deposition of
carbon is avoided. This form of apparatus has been very generally
adopted in Great Britain as well as in America, and practically all
carburetted water-gas plants are founded upon the same set of actions.
Important factors in the use of carburetted water gas for enrichment
are that it can be made with enormous rapidity and with a minimum of
labour; and not only is the requisite increase in illuminating power
secured, but the volume of the enriched gas is increased by the bulk
of carburetted water gas added, which in ordinary English practice
amounts to from 25 to 50%. The public at first strongly opposed its
introduction on the ground of the poisonous properties of the carbon
monoxide, which is present in it to the extent of about 28 to 30%.
Still when this comes to be diluted with 60 to 75% of ordinary coal
gas, containing as a rule only 4 to 6% of carbon monoxide, the
percentage of poisonous monoxide in the mixture falls to below 16%,
which experience has shown to be a fairly safe limit.

A rise in the price of oil suitable for carburetting has caused the
gas industry to consider other methods by which the volume of gas
obtainable from coal can be increased by admixture with blue or
non-luminous water gas. In Germany, at several important gas-works,
non-luminous water gas is passed into the foul main or through the
retorts in the desired proportion, and the mixture of water gas and
coal gas is then carburetted to the required extent by benzol vapour,
a process which at the present price of oil and benzol is distinctly
more economical than the use of carburetted water gas. In 1896 Karl
Dellwik introduced a modification in the process of making water gas
which entirely altered the whole aspect of the industry. In all the
attempts to make water gas, up to that date, the incandescence of the
fuel had been obtained by "blowing" so deep a bed of fuel that carbon
monoxide and the residual nitrogen of the air formed the chief
products, this mixture being known as "producer" gas. In the Dellwik
process, however, the main point is the adjustment of the air supplied
to the fuel in the generator in such a way that carbon dioxide is
formed instead of carbon monoxide. Under these conditions producer gas
ceases to exist as a by-product, and the gases of the blow consist
merely of the incombustible products of complete combustion, carbon
dioxide and nitrogen, the result being that more than three times the
heat is developed for the combustion of the same amount of fuel, and
nearly double the quantity of water gas can be made per pound of fuel
than was before possible. The runs or times of steaming can also be
continued for longer periods. The possibility of making from 60,000 to
70,000 cub. ft. of water gas per ton of coke used in the Dellwik
generator as against 34,000 to 45,000 cub. ft. per ton made by
previous processes reduces the price of water gas to about 3-1/2d. per
thousand, so that the economic value of using it in admixture with
coal gas and then enriching the mixture by any cheap carburetting
process is manifest. The universal adoption of the incandescent mantle
for lighting purposes has made it evident that the illuminating value
of the gas is a secondary consideration, and the whole tendency now is
to do away with enrichment and produce a gas of low-candle power but
good heating power at a cheap rate for fuel purposes and incandescent
lighting. (See also LIGHTING: _Gas_.) (V. B. L.)

2. _Gas for Fuel and Power_--The first gas-producers, which were built by Faber du Faur at Wasseralfingen in 1836 and by C.G.C. Bischof at Magdesprung (both in Germany), consisted of simple perpendicular shafts of masonry contracted at the top and the bottom, with or without a grate for the coal. Such producers, frequently strengthened by a wrought iron casing, are even now used to a great extent. Sometimes the purpose of a gas-producer is attained in a very simple manner by lowering the grate of an ordinary fireplace so much that a layer of coal 4 or 5 ft. deep is maintained in the fire. The effect of this arrangement is that the great body of coal reaches a higher temperature than in an ordinary fireplace, and this, together with the reduction of the carbon dioxide formed immediately above the grate by the red-hot coal in the upper part of the furnace, leads to the formation of carbon monoxide which later on, on the spot where the greatest heat is required, is burned into dioxide by admitting fresh air, preferably pre-heated. This simple and inexpensive arrangement has the further advantage that the producer-gas is utilized immediately after its formation, without being allowed to cool down. But it is not very well adapted to large furnaces, and especially not to those cases where all the space round the furnace is required for manipulating heavy, white-hot masses of iron, or for similar purposes. In these cases the producers are arranged outside the iron-works, glass-works, &c., in an open yard where all the manipulations of feeding them with coal, of stoking, and of removing the ashes are performed without interfering with the work inside. But care must always be taken to place the producers at such a low level that the gas has an upward tendency, in order to facilitate its passage to the furnace where it is to be burned. This purpose can be further promoted by various means. The gas-producers constructed by Messrs Siemens Brothers, from 1856 onwards, were provided with a kind of brick chimney; on the top of this there was a horizontal iron tube, continued into an iron down-draught, and only from this the underground flues were started which sent the gas into the single furnaces. This arrangement, by which the gas was cooled down by the action of the air, acted as a gas-siphon for drawing the gas out of the producer, but it has various drawbacks and has been abandoned in all modern constructions. Where the "natural draught" is not sufficient, it is aided either by blowing air under the grate or else by suction at the other end.

We shall now describe a few of the very large number of gas-producers producers constructed, selecting some of the most widely applied in practice.

--Siemens Producer (Sectional Elevation).]

The Siemens Producer in its original shape, of which hundreds have
been erected and many may be still at work, is shown in fig. 12. A is
the charging-hole; B, the inclined front wall, consisting of a cast
iron plate with fire-brick lining; C, the equally inclined
"step-grate"; D, a damper by which the producer may be isolated in
case of repairs; E, a water-pipe, by which the cinders at the bottom
may be quenched before taking away; the steam here formed rises into
the producer where it forms some "semi-water gas" (see FUEL:
_Gaseous_). Openings like that shown at G serve for introducing a
poker in order to clean the brickwork from adhering slags. H is the
gas flue; I, the perpendicularly ascending shaft, 10 or 12 ft. high;
JJ, the horizontal iron tube; K, the descending branch mentioned
above, for producing a certain amount of suction by means of the
gas-siphon thus formed. In the horizontal branch JJ much of the tar
and flue-dust is also condensed, which is of importance where
bituminous coal is employed for firing.

This as well as most other descriptions of gas-producers, is not
adapted to being worked with such coal as softens in the heat and
forms cakes, impenetrable to the air and impeding the regular sinking
of the charge in the producer. The fuel employed should be
non-bituminous coal, anthracite or coke, or at least so much of these
materials should be mixed with ordinary coal that no semi-solid cakes
of the kind just described are formed. Where it is unavoidable to work
with coal softening in the fire, Lurmann's producer may be employed,
which is shown in fig. 13. V shows a gas-producer of the ordinary
kind, which during regular work is filled with the coke formed in the
horizontal retort E. The door _b_ serves for removing the slags and
ashes from the bottom of V, as far as they do not fall through the
grate. The hot producer-gas formed in V is passed round the retort E
in the flues n2 n2, and ultimately goes away through K to the furnace
where it is to be used. The retort E is charged with ordinary
bituminous coal which is submitted to destructive distillation by the
heat communicated through the flues n2 n2 and is thus converted into
coke. The gases formed during this process pass into the upper portion
of V and get mixed with the producer-gas formed in the lower portion.
From time to time, as the level of the coke in V goes down, some of
the freshly formed coke in E is pushed into V, whereby the level of
the coke in V should assume the shape shown by the dotted line _l ...
m_. If the level became too low, such as is shown by the dotted line
x ... y, the working of the producer would be wrong, as in this case
the layer of coke at the front side would be too low, and carbon
dioxide would be formed in lieu of monoxide.

Figs. 14 and 15 show Liegel's producer, the special object of which is
to deal with any fuel (coal or coke) giving a tough, pasty slag on
combustion. Such slags act very prejudicially by impeding the
up-draught of the air and the sinking of the fuel; nor can they be
removed by falling through a grate, like ordinary coal-ashes. To
obviate these drawbacks the producer A is kept at a greater heat than
is otherwise usual, the air required for feeding the producer being
pre-heated in the channels e, e. The inside shape of the producer is
such that the upper, less hot portion cannot get stopped, as it widens
out towards the bottom; the lower, hotter portion, where the ashes are
already fluxed, is contracted to a slit a, through which the air
ascends. The grate b retains any small pieces of fuel, but allows the
liquid cinder to pass through. The lateral flues c, c prevent the
brickwork from being melted.

One of the best-known gas-producers for working with compressed air
from below is Taylor's, shown in fig. 16. A is the feeding-hopper, on
the same principle as is used in blast-furnaces. L is the
producer-shaft, with an iron casing B and peep-holes B1 to B4,
passing through the brick lining M. F is the contracted part, leading
to the closed ash-pit, accessible through the doors D. An injector I,
worked by means of the steam-pipe J, forces air through K into F. The
circular grate G can be turned round K by means of the crank E from
the outside. This is done, without interfering with the blast, in
order to keep the fuel at the proper level in L, according to the
indications of the burning zone, as shown through the peep-holes B1 to
B4. The ashes collecting at the bottom are from time to time removed
by the doors D. As the steam, introduced by J, is decomposed in the
producer, we here obtain a "semi-water gas," with about 27% CO and 12%
H2.

Fig. 17 shows the Dowson gas-producer, together with the arrangements
for purifying the gas for the purpose of working a gas engine. _a_ is
a vertical steam boiler, heated by a central shaft filled with coke,
with superheating tubes _b_ passing through the central shaft. _c_ is
the steam-pipe, carrying the dry steam into the air-injector _d_. This
mixture of steam and air enters into the gas-producer _e_ below the
fire-grate _f_. _g_ is the feeding-hopper for the anthracite which is
usually employed in this kind of producer. _h_, _h_ are cooling-pipes
for the gas where most of the undecomposed steam (say 10% of the whole
employed in _d_) is condensed. _i_ is a hydraulic box with water seal;
_j_, a coke-scrubber; _k_, a filter; _l_, a sawdust-scrubber; _m_,
inlet of gas-holder; _n_, gas-holder; _o_, outlet of same; _p_, a
valve with weighted lever to regulate the admission of steam to the
gas-producer; _q_, the weight which actuates the lever automatically
by the rise or fall of the bell of the gas-holder. In practical work
about 3/4 lb. of steam is decomposed for each pound of anthracite
consumed, and no more than 5% of carbon dioxide is found in the
resulting gas. The latter has an average calorific power of 1732
calories per cubic metre, or 161 B.T.U. per cubic foot, at 0 deg. and
760 mm.

The Mond plant is shown in figs. 18 and 19. The gases produced in the
generators G are passed through pipes _r_ into washers W, in which
water is kept in violent motion by means of paddle-wheels. The spray
of water removes the dust and part of the tar and ammonia from the
gases, much steam being produced at the same time. This water is
withdrawn from time to time and worked for the ammonia it contains.
The gases, escaping from W at a temperature of about 100 deg. C., and
containing much steam, pass though _g_ and _a_ into a tower, fed with
an acid-absorbing liquid, coming from the tank _s_, which is spread
into many drops by the brick filling of the tower. This liquid is a
strong solution of ammonium sulphate, containing about 2.5% free
sulphuric acid which absorbs nearly all the ammonia from the gases,
without dissolving much of the tarry substances. Most of the liquor
arriving at the bottom, after mechanically separating the tar, is
pumped back into _s_, but a portion is always withdrawn and worked for
ammonium sulphate. When escaping from the acid tower, the gas contains
about 0.013% NH3, and has a temperature of about 80 deg. C. and is
saturated with aqueous vapour. It is passed through _c_ into a second
tower B, filled with blocks of wood, where it meets with a stream of
comparatively cold water. At the bottom of this the water runs away,
its temperature being 78 deg. C.; at the top the gas passes away
through _d_ into the distributing main. The hot water from B, freed
from tar, is pumped into a third tower C, through which cold air is
forced by means of a Root's blower by the pipe _w_. This air, after
being heated to 76 deg. C., and saturated with steam in the tower C,
passes through _l_ into the generator G. The water in C leaves this
tower cold enough to be used in the scrubber B. Thus two-thirds of the
steam originally employed in the generator is reintroduced into it,
leaving only one-third to be supplied by the exhaust steam of the
steam-engine. The gas-generators G have a rectangular section, 6 X 12
ft., several of them being erected in series. The introduction of the
air and the removal of the ashes takes place at the narrower ends. The
bottom is formed by a water-tank and the ashes are quenched here. The
air enters just above the water-level, at a pressure of 4 in. The
Mond gas in the dry state contains 15% carbon dioxide, 10% monoxide,
23% hydrogen, 3% hydrocarbons, 49% nitrogen. The yield of ammonium
sulphate is 75 lb. from a ton of coal (slack with 11.5% ashes and 55%
fixed carbon).

One of the best plants for the generation of _water-gas_ is that
constructed by E. Blass (fig. 20). Steam enters through the valve V at
D into the generator, filled with coke, and passes away at the bottom
through A. The pressure of the gas should not be such that it could
get into the pipe conveying the air-blast, by which an explosive
mixture would be formed. This is prevented by the water-cooled damper
S, which always closes the air-blast when the gas-pipe is open and
vice versa. Below the entry W of the air-blast there is a throttle
valve _d_ which is closed as soon as the damper S opens the gas canal;
thus a second security against the production of a mixture of air and
gas is afforded. The water-cooled ring channel K protects the bottom
outlet of the generator and causes the cinders to solidify, so that
they can be easily removed. But sometimes no such cooling is effected,
in which case the cinders run away in the liquid form. Below K the
fuel is lying in a conical heap, leaving the ring channel A free.
During the period of hot-blowing (heating-up) S is turned so that the
air-blast communicates with the generator; _d_ and G are open; _g_
(the damper connected with the scrubber) and V are closed. During the
period of gas-making G and _d_ are closed, S now closes the air-blast
and connects the generator with the scrubber; V is opened, and the gas
passes from the scrubber into the gas-holder, the inlet w being under
a pressure of 4 in. All these various changes in the opening of the
valves and dampers are automatically performed in the proper order by
means of a hand-wheel H, the shaft m resting on the standards t and
shaft _v_. This hand-wheel has merely to be turned one way for
starting the hot-blowing, and the opposite way for gas-making, to open
and shut all the connexions, without any mistake being possible on the
part of the attendant. The feeding-hopper E is so arranged that, when
the cone e2 opens, e1 is shut, and vice versa, thus no more gas can
escape, on feeding fresh coke into the generator, than that which is
contained in E. G is the pipe through which the blowing-up gas
(Siemens gas) is carried away, either into the open air (where it is
at once burned) or into a pre-heater for the blast, or into some place
where it can be utilized as fuel. This gas, which is made for 10 or 11
minutes, contains from 23 to 32% carbon monoxide, 7 to 1.5% carbon
dioxide, 2 to 3% hydrogen, a little methane, 64 to 66% nitrogen, and
has a heating value of 950 calories per cub. metre. The water-gas
itself is made for 7 minutes, and has an average composition of 3.3%
carbon dioxide, 44% carbon monoxide, 0.4% methane, 48.6% hydrogen,
3.7% nitrogen, and a heating value of 2970 calories per cub. metre. 1
kilogram coke yields 1.13 cub. metre water-gas and 3.13 Siemens gas.
100 parts coke (of 7000 calories) furnish 42% of their heat value as
water-gas and 42% as Siemens gas.

Lastly we give a section of the Dellwik-Fleischer gas-producer (fig.
21). The feeding-hoppers A are alternately charged every half-hour, so
that the layer of fuel in the generator always remains 4 ft. deep. B
is the chimney-damper, C the grate, D the door for removing the slags,
E the ash-door, F the inlet of the air-blast, G the upper, G1 the
lower outlet for the water-gas which is removed alternately at top and
bottom by means of an outside valve, steam being always admitted at
the opposite end. The blowing-up generally lasts 1-3/4 minutes, the
gas-making 8 or 10 minutes. The air-blast works under a pressure of 8
or 9 in. below the grate, or 4 to 4-1/2 in. above the coke. The
blowing-up gas contains 17 or 18% carbon dioxide and 1.5% oxygen, with
mere traces of carbon monoxide. The water-gas shows 4 to 5% carbon
dioxide, 40% carbon monoxide, 0.8% methane, 48 to 51% hydrogen, 4 or
5% nitrogen. About 2.5 cub. metres is obtained per kilogram of best
coke.

See Mills and Rowan, _Fuel and its Application_ (London, 1889); Samuel
S. Wyer, _Producer-Gas and Gas-Producers_, published by the
_Engineering and Mining Journal_ (New York); F. Fischer, _Chemische
Technologie der Brennstoffe_ (1897-1901); _Gasformige Heizstoffe_, in
Stohmann and Kerl's _Handbuch der technischen Chemie_, 4th edition,
iii. 642 et seq. (G. L.)

FOOTNOTES:

[1] Liquor condensed from gas alone, without wash water.

[2] Figs. 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 18, 19, 20, 21 of this article are from
Lunge's _Coal-tar and Ammonia_, by permission of Friedr. Vieweg u.
Sohn.

GASCOIGNE, GEORGE (c. 1535-1577), English poet, eldest son of Sir John Gascoigne of Cardington, Bedfordshire, was born probably between 1530 and 1535. He was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, and on leaving the university is supposed to have joined the Middle Temple. He became a member of Gray's Inn in 1555. He has been identified without much show of evidence with a lawyer named Gastone who was in prison in 1548 under very discreditable circumstances. There is no doubt that his escapades were notorious, and that he was imprisoned for debt. George Whetstone says that Sir John Gascoigne disinherited his son on account of his follies, but by his own account he was obliged to sell his patrimony to pay the debts contracted at court. He was M.P. for Bedford in 1557-1558 and 1558-1559, but when he presented himself in 1572 for election at Midhurst he was refused on the charges of being "a defamed person and noted for manslaughter," "a common Rymer and a deviser of slaunderous Pasquelles," "a notorious ruffianne," an atheist and constantly in debt. His poems, with the exception of some commendatory verses, were not published before 1572, but they were probably circulated in MS. before that date. He tells us that his friends at Gray's Inn importuned him to write on Latin themes set by them, and there two of his plays were acted. He repaired his fortunes by marrying the wealthy widow of William Breton, thus becoming step-father to the poet, Nicholas Breton. In 1568 an inquiry into the disposition of William Breton's property with a view to the protection of the children's rights was instituted before the lord mayor, but the matter was probably settled in a friendly manner, for Gascoigne continued to hold the Walthamstow estate, which he had from his wife, until his death. He sailed as a soldier of fortune to the Low Countries in 1572, and was driven by stress of weather to Brill, which luckily for him had just fallen into the hands of the Dutch. He obtained a captain's commission, and took an active part in the campaigns of the next two years, during which he acquired a profound dislike of the Dutch, and a great admiration for William of Orange, who had personally intervened on his behalf in a quarrel with his colonel, and secured him against the suspicion caused by his clandestine visits to a lady at the Hague. Taken prisoner after the evacuation of Valkenburg by the English troops, he was sent to England in the autumn of 1574. He dedicated to Lord Grey of Wilton the story of his adventures, "The Fruites of Warres" (printed in the edition of 1575) and "Gascoigne's Voyage into Hollande." In 1575 he had a share in devising the masques, published in the next year as _The Princely Pleasures at the Courte at Kenelworth_, which celebrated the queen's visit to the Earl of Leicester. At Woodstock in 1575 he delivered a prose speech before Elizabeth, and presented her with the _Pleasant Tale of Hemetes the Heremite_[1] in four languages. Most of his works were actually published during the last years of his life, after his return from the wars. He died at Bernack, near Stamford, where he was the guest of George Whetstone, on the 7th of October 1577. George Whetstone wrote a long dull poem in honour of his friend, entitled "A Remembrance of the wel-imployed life and godly end of George Gaskoigne, Esquire."

His theory of metrical composition is explained in a short critical treatise, "Certayne Notes of Instruction concerning the making of verse or ryme in English, written at the request of Master Edouardo Donati,"[2] prefixed to his _Posies_ (1575). He acknowledged Chaucer as his master, and differed from the earlier poets of the school of Surrey and Wyatt chiefly in the added smoothness and sweetness of his verse. His poems were published in 1572 during his absence in Holland, surreptitiously, according to his own account, but it seems probable that the "editor" who supplied the running comment was none other than Gascoigne himself. _A hundreth Sundrie Floures bound up in one small Posie. Gathered partely (by translation) in the fyne outlandish Gardens of Euripides, Ovid, Petrarke, Ariosto and others; and partely by Invention out of our owne fruitfull Orchardes in Englande, Yelding Sundrie Savours of tragical, comical and moral discourse, bothe pleasaunt and profitable, to the well-smelling noses of learned Readers_, was followed in 1575 by an authorized edition, _The Posies of G.G. Esquire_ ... (not dated).

Gascoigne had an adventurous and original mind, and was a pioneer in more than one direction. In 1576 he published _The Steele Glas_, sometimes called the earliest regular English satire. Although this poem is Elizabethan in form and manner, it is written in the spirit of _Piers Plowman_. Gascoigne begins with a comparison between the sister arts of Satire and Poetry, and under a comparison between the old-fashioned "glas of trustie steele," and the new-fangled crystal mirrors which he takes as a symbol of the "Italianate" corruption of the time, he attacks the amusements of the governing classes, the evils of absentee landlordism, the corruption of the clergy, and pleads for the restoration of the feudal ideal.[3]

His dramatic work belongs to the period of his residence at Gray's Inn, both _Jocasta_ (of which Acts i. and iv. were contributed by Francis Kinwelmersh) and _Supposes_ being played there in 1566. _Jocasta_ was said by J.P. Collier (_Hist. of Dram. Poetry_ iii. 8) to be the "first known attempt to introduce a Greek play upon the English stage," but it turns out that Gascoigne was only very indirectly acquainted with Euripides. His play is a literal version of Lodovico Dolce's _Giocasta_, which was derived probably from the _Phoenissae_ in the Latin translation of R. Winter. _Supposes_,[4] a version of Ariosto's _I Suppositi_, is notable as an early and excellent adaptation of Italian comedy, and moreover, as "the earliest play in English prose acted in public or private." Udal's _Ralph Roister Doister_ had been inspired directly by Latin comedy; _Gammer Gurton's Needle_ was a purely native product; but _Supposes_ is the first example of the acclimatization of the Italian models that were to exercise so prolonged an influence on the English stage. A third play of Gascoigne's, _The Glasse of Government_ (published in 1575), is a school drama of the "Prodigal Son" type, familiar on the continent at the time, but rare in England. It is defined by Mr C.H. Herford as an attempt "to connect _Terentian situation_ with a _Christian moral_ in a picture of _school life_," and it may be assumed that Gascoigne was familiar with the didactic drama of university life in vogue on the continent. The scene is laid at Antwerp, and the two prodigals meet with retribution in Geneva and Heidelberg respectively.

_The Spoyle of Antwerpe_, written by an eyewitness of the sack of the city in 1576, has sometimes been attributed to Gascoigne, but although a George Gascoigne was employed in that year to carry letters for Walsingham, internal evidence is against Gascoigne's authorship. A curious editorial preface by Gascoigne to Sir Humphrey Gilbert's _Discourse of a Discoverie for a new Passage to Cataia_ (1576) has led to the assertion that Gascoigne printed the tract against its author's wish, but it is likely that he was really serving Gilbert, who desired the publication, but dared not avow it. The _Wyll of the Devill_ ... (reprinted for private circulation by Dr F.J. Furnivall, 1871), an anti-popish tract, once attributed, on slender evidence, to Gascoigne, is almost certainly by another hand.

Gascoigne's works not already mentioned include: "G. G. in
commendation of the noble Arte of Venerie," prefixed to _The Noble Art
of Venerie or Hunting_ (1575); _The Complaynte of Phylomene, bound up
with The Steele Glas_ (1576); _The Droomme of Doomes-day_ (1576), a
prose compilation from various authors, especially from the _De
contemptu mundi sive de miseria humanae conditionis_ of Pope Innocent
III., printed with varying titles, earliest ed. (1470?); _A Delicate
Diet for daintie mouthde droonkardes ..._ (1576), a free version of St
Augustine's _De ebrietate_. _The Posies_ (1572) included _Supposes_,
_Jocasta_, _A Discourse of the Adventures of Master F[erdinando]
J[eronimi]_, in imitation of an Italian novella, a partly
autobiographical _Don Bartholomew of Bath_, and miscellaneous poems.
Real personages, some of whom were well known at court, were supposed
to be concealed under fictitious names in _The Adventures of Master F.
J._, and the poem caused considerable scandal, so that the names are
disguised in the second edition. A more comprehensive collection, _The
Whole Workes of G. G._ ... appeared in 1587. In 1868-1870 _The
Complete Poems of G. G._ ... were edited for the Roxburghe Library by
Mr W.C. Hazlitt. In his _English Reprints_ Prof. E. Arber included
_Certayne Notes of Instruction, The Steele Glas_ and the _Complaynt of
Philomene_. _The Steele Glas_ was also edited for the _Library of
English Literature_, by Henry Morley, vol. i. p. 184 (1889). A new
edition, _The Works of George Gascoigne_ (The Cambridge English
Classics, 1907, &c.) is edited by Dr J.W. Cunliffe. See also _The Life
and Writings of George Gascoigne_, by Prof. Felix E. Schelling
(Publications of the Univ. of Pennsylvania series in Philology, vol.
ii. No. 4 [1894]); C.H. Herford, _Studies in the Literary Relations of
England and Germany in the Sixteenth Century_, pp. 149-164 (1886);
C.H. Herford, "Gascoigne's Glasse of Government," in _Englische
Studien_, vol. ix. (Halle, 1877, &c.).

FOOTNOTES:

[1] Printed in 1579 in a pamphlet called _The Paradoxe_, the author
of which, Abraham Fleming, does not mention Gascoigne's name.

[2] Reprinted in vol. ii. of J. Haslewood's _Ancient Critical Essays_
(1811-1815), and in Gregory Smith's _Elizabethan Critical Essays_
(1904).

[3] "Againe I see, within my glasse of Steele
But foure estates, to serve each country soyle,
The King, the Knight, the Pesant, and the Priest.
The King should care for al the subjects still,
The Knight should fight, for to defend the same,
The Pesant, he shoulde labor for their ease,
And Priests shuld pray, for them and for themselves."--

(Arber's ed. p. 57.)

[4] The influence of this play on the Shakespearian _Taming of the
Shrew_ is dealt with by Prof. A.H. Tolman in _Shakespeare's Part in
the Taming of the Shrew_ (Pub. of the Mod. Lang. Assoc. vol. v. No.
4, pp. 215, 216, 1890).

GASCOIGNE, SIR WILLIAM (c. 1350-1419), chief justice of England in the reign of Henry IV. Both history and tradition testify to the fact that he was one of the great lawyers who in times of doubt and danger have asserted the principle that the head of the state is subject to law, and that the traditional practice of public officers, or the expressed voice of the nation in parliament, and not the will of the monarch or any part of the legislature, must guide the tribunals of the country. He was a descendant of an ancient Yorkshire family. The date of his birth is uncertain, but it appears from the year-books that he practised as an advocate in the reigns of Edward III. and Richard II. On the banishment of Henry of Lancaster Gascoigne was appointed one of his attorneys, and soon after Henry's accession to the throne was made chief justice of the court of king's bench. After the suppression of the rising in the north in 1405, Henry eagerly pressed the chief justice to pronounce sentence upon Scrope, the archbishop of York, and the earl marshal Thomas Mowbray, who had been implicated in the revolt. This he absolutely refused to do, asserting the right of the prisoners to be tried by their peers. Although both were afterwards executed, the chief justice had no part in the transaction. It has been very much doubted, however, whether Gascoigne could have displayed such independence of action without prompt punishment or removal from office following. The oft-told tale of his committing the prince of Wales to prison must also be regarded as unauthentic, though it is both picturesque and characteristic. The judge had directed the punishment of one of the prince's riotous companions, and the prince, who was present and enraged at the sentence, struck or grossly insulted the judge. Gascoigne immediately committed him to prison, using firm and forcible language, which brought him to a more reasonable mood, and secured his voluntary obedience to the sentence. The king is said to have approved of the act, but there appears to be good ground for the supposition that Gascoigne was removed from his post or resigned soon after the accession of Henry V. He died in 1419, and was buried in the parish church of Harewood in Yorkshire. Some biographies of the judge have stated that he died in 1412, but this is clearly disproved by Foss in his _Lives of the Judges_; and although it is clear that Gascoigne did not hold office long under Henry V., it is not absolutely impossible that the scene in the fifth act of the second part of Shakespeare's _Henry IV._ has some historical basis, and that the judge's resignation was voluntary.

GASCONY (_Wasconia_), an old province in the S.W. of France. It takes its name from the Vascones, a Spanish tribe which in 580 and 587 crossed the Pyrenees and invaded the district known to the Romans as Novempopulana or Aquitania tertia. Basque, the national language of the Vascones, took root only in a few of the high valleys of the Pyrenees, such as Soule and Labourd; in the plains Latin dialects prevailed, Gascon being a Romance language. In the 7th century the name of Vasconia was substituted for that of Novempopulana. The Vascones readily recognized the sovereignty of the Merovingian kings. In 602 they consented to be governed by a duke called Genialis, but in reality they remained independent. They even appointed national dukes, against whom Charlemagne had to fight at the beginning of his reign. Finally Duke Lupus II. made his submission in 819, and the Carolingians were able to establish Frankish dukes in the country. Three of these are known: Seguin (Sighivinus), William (Guillaume), and Arnaud (Arnaldus). They were at the same time counts of Bordeaux, and succumbed to the Normans. After the death of Arnaud in 864 the history of Gascony falls into the profoundest obscurity. The lists of the 10th-century dukes prepared by ancient and modern historians can only be established by means of hypotheses based in many cases on spurious documents (e.g. the charter of Alaon), and little confidence can be placed in them. During this troubled period Gascony was from time to time attached to one or other of the other Vascon states which had been formed on the southern slope of the Pyrenees, but in the reign of Hugh Capet it was considered as forming part of France, from which it has never been separated. Disputed in the 11th century by the counts of Poitiers, who were also dukes of Aquitaine, and by the counts of Armagnac, the duchy finally passed to the house of Poitiers in 1073, when the title of duke of Gascony was merged in that of duke of Aquitaine and disappeared. In the feudal period Gascony comprised a great number of countships (including Armagnac, Bigorre, Fezensac, Gaure and Pardiac), viscountships (including Bearn, Lomagne, Dax, Juliac, Soule, Marsan, Tartas, Labourd and Maremne), and seigneuries (e.g. Albret, &c.). From the ecclesiastical point of view, it corresponded nearly to the archbishopric of Auch.

From about 1073 to 1137 Gascony was governed by the dukes of Aquitaine and counts of Poitiers, one of whom, William IX., gave the first charter of privileges to the town of Bayonne; but the duchy was weakened by the increasing independence of its great feudatories, especially the viscounts of Bearn and the counts of Armagnac. In 1137, the year of her father's death, Eleanor, the daughter and heiress of Duke William X., married the king of France, Louis VII., and with the rest of Aquitaine Gascony passed under his direct rule. In 1151, however, this marriage was annulled, and almost at once Eleanor married Henry of Anjou, who three years later became king of England as Henry II. Thus was the house of Plantagenet introduced into Gascony and a fresh bone of contention was thrown between the kings of England and of France. Having established himself in the duchy by force of arms, Henry handed it over to his son Richard, against whom many of the great Gascon lords revolted, and from Richard it passed to his brother John. The crusade against the Albigenses was carried into Gascony, and this warfare gave a new impetus to the process of disintegration which was already at work in the duchy. King John and his successor Henry III. were weak; the neighbouring counts of Toulouse were powerful and aggressive; and the house of Bearn was growing in strength. Gascony served Henry III. as headquarters during his two short and disastrous wars (1230 and 1242) with Louis IX., and in 1259 he did homage for it to this king; his son, Edward I., lost and then regained the duchy.

During the Hundred Years' War Gascony was obviously a battle-field for the forces of England and of France. The French seized the duchy, but, aided by the rivalry between the powerful houses of Foix and Armagnac, Edward III. was able to recover it, and by the treaty of Bretigny in 1360 John II. recognized the absolute sovereignty of England therein. Handed over as a principality by Edward to his son, the Black Prince, it was used by its new ruler as a base during his expedition into Spain, in which he received substantial help from the Gascon nobles. The renewal of the war between England and France, which took place in 1369, was due in part to a dispute over the sovereignty of Gascony, and during its course the position of the English was seriously weakened, the whole of the duchy save a few towns and fortresses being lost; but the victories of Henry V. in northern France postponed for a time the total expulsion of the foreigner. This was reserved for the final stage of the war and was one result of the efforts of Joan of Arc, the year 1451 witnessing the capture of Bayonne and the final retreat of the English troops from the duchy. During this time the inhabitants of Gascony suffered severely from the ravages of both parties, and the nobles ruled or misruled without restraint.

The French kings, especially Louis XI., managed to restore the royal authority in the duchy, although this was not really accomplished until the close of the 15th century when the house of Armagnac was overthrown. It was by means of administrative measures that these kings attained their object. Gascony was governed on the same lines as other parts of France and from the time of Henry IV., who was prince of Bearn, and who united his hereditary lands with the crown, its history differs very slightly from that of the rest of the country. The Renaissance inspired the foundation of educational institutions and the Reformation was largely accepted in Bearn, but not in other parts of Gascony. The wars of religion swept over the land, which was the scene of some of the military exploits of Henry IV., and Louis XIV. made some slight changes in its government. As may be surmised the boundaries of Gascony varied from time to time, but just before the outbreak of the Revolution they were the Atlantic Ocean, Guienne, Languedoc and the Pyrenees, and from east to west the duchy at its greatest extent measured 170 m.

At the end of the _ancien regime_ Gascony was united with Guienne to form a great military government. After the division of France into departments, Gascony, together with Bearn, French Navarre and the Basque country, formed the departments of Basses-Pyrenees, Landes, Hautes-Pyrenees and Gers. Parts of Gascony also now form arrondissements and cantons of the departments of Lot-et-Garonne, Haute-Garonne, Ariege and Tarn-et-Garonne.

See Arnaud Oihenart, _Notitia utriusque Vasconiae, tam Ibericae quam
Aquitanicae_ (1637); L'Abbe Monlezun, _Histoire de la Gascogne_
(1846-1850), comprising a number of useful but uncritically edited
documents; and Jean de Jaurgain, _La Vasconie, etude historique et
critique sur les origines ... du duche de Gascogne ... et des grands
fiefs du duche de Gascogne_ (1898-1902), a learned and ingenious work,
but characterized by unbridled genealogical fancy. This last work was
rectified by Ferdinand Lot in his _Etudes sur le regne de Hugues
Capet_ (1903; see especially appendix x.). See also Barrau-Dihigo, "La
Gascogne," a bibliography of manuscript sources and of printed works
published in the _Revue de synthese historique_ (1903). (C. B.*)

GAS ENGINE. A gas engine is a heat engine in which the working fluid is atmospheric air and the fuel an inflammable gas. It differs from a hot-air or a steam engine in that the heat is given to the working fluid by combustion within the motive power cylinder. In most gas engines--in fact, in all those at present on the market--the working fluid and the fuel that supplies it with heat are mixed with each other before the combustion of the fuel. The fuel--which in the steam and in most hot-air engines is burned in a separate furnace--is, in the gas engine, introduced directly to the motor cylinder and burned there; it is, indeed, part of the working fluid. A gas engine, therefore, is an internal combustion engine using gaseous fuel.

The commercial history of the gas engine dates from 1876, when Dr N.A.
Otto patented the well-known engine now in extensive use, but long
before that year inventors had been at work, attempting to utilize gas
for producing motive power. The first proposal made in Great Britain
is found in Street's Patent No. 1983 of 1794, where an explosion
engine is suggested, the explosion to be caused by vaporizing spirits
of turpentine on a heated metal surface, mixing the vapour with air in
a cylinder, firing the mixture, and driving a piston by the explosion
produced. Most of the early engines were suggested by the fact that a
mixture of an inflammable gas and atmospheric air gives an explosion
when ignited--that is, produces pressure which can be applied in a
cylinder to propel a piston. Lebon, in France, proposed a gas engine
in which the gas and air were raised to a pressure above that of the
atmosphere before use in the cylinder, but he did not appear to be
clear in his ideas.

Some interesting particulars of early experiments are given in a paper
read at the Cambridge Philosophical Society in 1820 entitled, "On the
Application of Hydrogen Gas to produce a Moving Power in Machinery,
with a description of an Engine which is moved by the pressure of the
Atmosphere upon a Vacuum caused by Explosions of Hydrogen Gas and
Atmospheric Air." In that paper the Rev. W. Cecil describes an engine
of his invention constructed to operate on the explosion vacuum
method. This engine was stated to run with perfect regularity at 60
revolutions per minute, consuming 17.6 cub. ft. of hydrogen gas per
hour. The hydrogen explosion, however, does not seem to have been
noiseless, because Mr Cecil states that in building a larger engine
"... to remedy the noise which is occasioned by the explosion, the
lower end of the cylinder A, B, C, D may be buried in a well or it may
be enclosed in a large air-tight vessel." Mr Cecil also mentions
previous experiments at Cambridge by Prof. Farish, who exhibited at
his lectures on mechanics an engine actuated by the explosion of a
mixture of gas and air within a cylinder, the explosion taking place
from atmospheric pressure. Prof. Farish is also stated to have
operated an engine by gunpowder. These engines of Farish and Cecil
appear to be the very earliest in actual operation in the world.

Samuel Brown, in patents dated 1823 and 1826, proposed to fill a
closed chamber with a gas flame, and so expel the air; then he
condensed the flame by injecting water, and operated an air engine by
exhausting into the partial vacuum so obtained. The idea was evidently
suggested by Watt's condensing steam engine, flame being employed
instead of steam to obtain a vacuum. Brown's engine is said to have
been actually employed to pump water, drive a boat on the Thames, and
propel a road carriage. L.W. Wright in 1833 described an explosion
engine working at atmospheric pressure and exploding on both sides of
the piston. The cylinder is shown as water-jacketed. In William
Barnett's engine of 1838 two great advances were made. The engine was
so constructed that the mixture of gas and air was compressed to a
considerable extent in the motor cylinder before ignition. The method
of igniting the compressed charge was also effective. The problem of
transferring a flame to the interior of a cylinder when the pressure
is much in excess of that of the external air was solved by means of a
hollow plug cock having a gas jet burning within the hollow. In one
position the hollow was opened to the atmosphere, and a gas jet
issuing within it was lit by an external flame, so that it burned
within the hollow. The plug was then quickly rotated, so that it
closed to the external air and opened to the engine cylinder; the
flame continued to burn with the air contained in the cock, until the
compressed inflammable mixture rushed into the space from the cylinder
and ignited at the flame. This mode of ignition is in essentials the
one adopted by Otto about thirty years later. To Barnett belongs the
credit of being the first to realize clearly the great idea of
compression before explosion in gas engines, and to show one way of
carrying out the idea in practice. Barnett appears to have constructed
an engine, but he attained no commercial success. Several attempts to
produce gas engines were made between 1838 and 1860, but they were all
failures. Several valuable ideas were published in 1855. Drake, an
American, described a mode of igniting a combustible gaseous mixture
by raising a thimble-shaped piece of metal to incandescence. In 1857
Barsanti and Matteucci proposed a free-piston engine, in which the
explosion propelled a free piston against the atmosphere, and the work
was done on the return stroke by the atmospheric pressure, a partial
vacuum being produced under the piston. The engine never came into
commercial use, although the fundamental idea was good.