BY LAMP-LIGHT. . . . 
     
    
   
   
    
     During the recent power failures across the province, many 5f us 
     
     have had ocCasion to dust off our old kerosene lamps and put them back 
     
     into service. ‘At these times I'm sure we all fully appreciatefithe 
     
     tremendous superiority of the kerosene lamp cver the candle-in the 
     
    

    
     . intensity and quality of the light shed. What fewer of us may realize 
     
     is that the invention of kerOSene actually took place in Charlottetown 
     
     136 years ago! » I ' _" 
     
    

    
     The inventor of kerosene, Abraham Gesner, was born in Cornwallis, 
     
     Nova Scotia in l797, the son of a Loyalist army officer. As'a young 
     
     man he spent some time at sea on a sailing ship. Later he studied>A 
     
     medicine in London, graduating as a doctor in 1827. He returned to 
     
     Nova Scotia to practiSe medicine but increasingly turned his interests q 
     
     towards scientific pursuits, especially in the field of geology. ~In lSEé‘he-pubi 
     
     lished his Remarks on the Geology and Mineralogy of Nova Scotia, one of the earliest 
     
     geological works on that province. From 1838 to 1843 he was commissioned to carry 
     
     out a geological survey of New Brunswick. In St. John he opened a small museum 
     
     which exhibited his personal collection of geological specimens. ' 
     
    

    
     In 1846 Gesner was appointed to make a geological Survey of Prince Edward 
     
     Island. It was in that year that he developed a process for distilling kerosene 
     
     from a coal-like.mineral now known as albertite. By 1852 he had perfected his 
     
     prodess of obtaining kerosene oil from bituminous shale and cannel coal, and.in 
     
     '1853 he moved to New York and obtained a patent.' The following year he started the 
     
     North American_Kerosene Gas Light Company, which produced kerosene from petroleum 
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
     "at its refinery oano g Island. 
     
    

    
     . In 1863 Gesner sold his patents and returned to Halifax, where he died in 
     
     1864.. During his lifetime he published several papers which-rahged:from.geological 
     
     accounts of parts of the Maritimes to A Practical Treatise on.€oal, Petroleum and 
     
     Other Distilled Oils. Although this last work was quite popular in its time,‘ 
     
     GeSnér is today best remembered as the inventor-of kerosene. ” 
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
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     UPCOMING EVENTS 
     
    
   
   
    
     FEBRUARY-MEETING. On Feb. 2, Andy Dean, a naturalist and birder who has , 
     
     * recently moVed to Charlottetown, will present a slide—tape program on . * 
     
    

    
     Corbett‘Pond in the University of New Brunswick woodlot near Fredericton. ' 
     
     * The presentation.will show the changing character of_life in and around the. * 
     
     pond through the four seasons. 
     
    
   
   
    
     MARCH MEETING. On March 2, Dr. Lawson Drake, an entomologist from they 
     
     Biology Department at the University of Prince Edward Island, will bewthe 
     
     guest speaker. His topic will be the Butterflies of P.E.I. ahd7Will be 
     
    

    
     * illustrated with slides and specimens. 4 ‘ 
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
     *- * i‘ * sir. i * t * * * k * * * * *i If: * fl * 
     
    
   
   
    
     References for Grosbeak article: 
     
    
   
   
    
     Godfrey, W.Ei 1954. ‘Birds of Prince Edward Island. Nat. Mus. Can. Bull: 392: 
     
     V 155-213. ' -~ 
     
     Tufts, R.W. 1973. The Birds of Nova Scotia. Nova Scotia Museum. FHalifax.. 
     
     532 p. 
     
    
   
   
    
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