USE OF ILLUMINATING GAS FOR FUEL PUR POSES. During recent years there has been a large development of the use of gas for cooking; for such heating as is not required to be con tinuous; and for industrial purposes where it is important to have a high and easily controllable temperature. A great number of gas companies have been very active in seeking for business along these lines, until in some cases the output of gas for fuel purposes is greater than that for illuminating purposes. This development of the sale of gas for fuel also affords an argument in favor of the adoption of a calorific-value stand ard, as mentioned above.
The total quantity of gas reported as sold in the United States for lighting and heating dur ing the year 1900, according to the Twelfth Cen sus, was 68,265.496,108 cubic feet, as compared with 36,519.511,510 reported for 1890, an in crease of 87 per cent. Of the amount sold in 1900, about 1,712,000,000 was a by-product from the manufacture of coke, and was sold to dis tributing companies for resale to consumers; the balance of the output was made by 877 gas works, which number may be compared with 742 reported in 1890, and only 30 in 1850. The
capital invested in the gas industry, according to the reports, increased from $6,674,000 in 1850 to $258,771,745 in 1890 and $567,000,506 in 1900. The total receipts for gas sold in 1900 were $69,432,582, or $1.035 per thousand cubic feet, which latter figure may be compared with $1.42 per thousand in 1890. By-products sold in 1900, including tar, coke, and ammoniacal liquor (not separately reported), amounted to about $4,283,204, which, with $2,000,907 from rents and sales of appliances, brought the total revenues of the gas-works up to $75,716,693. The total output of English gas-works in 1900 was about 150,000,000,000 cubic feet.