But at least, gradually, the streets began to be lit properly at night. Gas lights were already in use in the late eighteenth century, and they illuminated Westminster Bridge and Pall Mall as early as 1815; after the end of the Napoleonic Wars they became more common, spreading quickly to British provincial towns and cities. It was not until the 1840s that gas lighting became generally accepted in Paris, and even in 1860 London alone consumed twice as much gas as the whole of Germany. The first public gas lamp was lit in St Petersburg in 1819, and by mid-century there were 800 of them lighting
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On the discussion when streets first were lit
