other branches of Boulton and Watts' business, with which Murdock was
now associated,--and as much as from 4000L. to 5000L. of capital were
invested in the new works. The new method of lighting speedily became
popular amongst manufacturers, from its superior safety, cheapness, and
illuminating power. The mills of Phillips and Lee of Manchester were
fitted up in 1805; and those of Burley and Kennedy, also of Manchester,
and of Messrs. Gott, of Leeds, in subsequent years.

Though Murdock had made the uses of gas-lighting perfectly clear, it
was some time before it was proposed to light the streets by the new
method. The idea was ridiculed by Sir Humphry Davy, who asked one of
the projectors if he intended to take the dome of St. Paul's for a
gasometer! Sir Waiter Scott made many clever jokes about those who
proposed to "send light through the streets in pipes;" and even
Wollaston, a well known man of science, declared that they "might as
well attempt to light London with a slice from the moon." It has been
so with all new projects--with the steamboat, the locomotive, and the
electric telegraph. As John Wilkinson said of the first vessel of iron
which he introduced, "it will be only a nine days' wonder, and
afterwards a Columbus's egg."

On the 25th of February, 1808, Murdock read a paper before the Royal
Society "On the Application of Gas from Coal to economical purposes."
He gave a history of the origin and progress of his experiments, down
to the time when he had satisfactorily lit up the premises of Phillips
and Lee at Manchester. The paper was modest and unassuming, like
everything he did.

It concluded:--"I believe I may, without presuming too much, claim both
the first idea of applying, and the first application of this gas to
economical purposes."[9] The Royal Society awarded Murdock their large
Rumford Gold Medal for his communication.

In the following year a German named Wintzer, or Winsor, appeared as
the promotor of a scheme for obtaining a royal charter with extensive
privileges, and applied for powers to form a joint-stock company to
light part of London and Westminster with gas. Winsor claimed for his
method of gas manufacture that it was more efficacious and profitable
than any then known or practised. The profits, indeed, were to be
prodigious. Winsor made an elaborate calculation in his pamphlet
entitled 'The New Patriotic Imperial and National Light and Heat
Company,' from which it appeare