'A Patriot Luminary Extinguishing Noxious Gas', 1817.

Coloured satirical etching by George Cruikshank (1792-1878). The politician, Baron Brougham, is shown directing a fire-hose onto gas flames isuing from the mouth of Nelson's former captain, Thomas Cochrane, who stands on a gas container bearing the French insignia. Cochrane had proposed the use of 'noxious' gas (in 'stink vesels') as a weapon against the French during the Napoleonic wars. His father, Earl Dundonald, had been involved in the invention of gas light through his experiments on distilled tar vapours.