the fact that he had purchased seventy-eight samples of oil from as many different dealers in the city, and not a single one of them was safe. Some were pure naphtha.
So convincing was the statement that it was taken up all over the country. The report was reprinted everywhere, and the statements were made the basis of legislative action in most of the States. The report was followed by a second in July of the same year, a third in 1870, and a very elaborate report of 110 pages in 1871. Ten thousand copies of the latter were printed and circulated by public-spirited citizens in New York. It was largely reprinted in Switzerland, extensively quoted in France and Germany, and freely used and quoted by the Select Committee of the House of Lords in their report on the Petroleum Bill, 1872. In fact, Professor Chandler was invited to go to England to testify before this committee. He did not content himself with writing on the subject, but lectured in the hall of Cooper Union, the Academy of Music, and in Washington. Not only were the dangers of poorly refined oil exposed, but also the entire failure of all the safety-oils, safety-lamps, safety-cans, vapor-stoves, etc., and patented processes for making naphtha and benzine safe. It was shown that, with proper oil, accidents would never occur, while there is no method by which bad oil can be used with safety.
In New York City alone there were, in 1870, a hundred and fifty-seven fires known to have been caused by kerosene and naphtha, eighteen per cent, of the whole. There were also twenty-one deaths from the same cause, with thirty-nine deaths from clothes taking fire in ways not stated. It was estimated that from one to two thousand persons were killed annually by these accidents, before the labors of Chandler called attention to the cause and indicated the remedy.
One of his most comprehensive investigations resulted from the action of the Board in suppressing the gas nuisance. All the gas companies purified their gas by what was called the dry-lime process. The foul lime when removed, as it was daily, from the purifiers, disseminated a stench throughout the entire city. This odor was by most citizens attributed to the sewers. When it was fully realized that it came from the gas-works, the companies were appealed to, and, with one exception, they introduced improvements by which the odor was suppressed. One company, however, maintained that no odor emanated from their works; that the odor was not disagreeable; that it was wholesome, as children suffering from whooping-cough were brought to breathe it; that they could not avoid making it; and, finally, if they did, the gas would be too bad to burn in dwellings. The result of these claims was a most elaborate trial before a referee. The gas company produced experts and other witnesses to sustain the above views, and Professor Chandler combated them with the best foreign authorities on gas-making. The evidence was subsequently published in the Report of the Board for 1869, and is one of the most
