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Robert Foulis' his early work in Hillsborough brought him into direct
conflict with Abraham Gesner. In fact, Foulis went so far as to state in 1851
that
"I tried the Hillsborough bitumen for the production of illuminating
gas long before Dr. Gesner came into the Province!!!"
Gesner has long been recognized as the inventor of the distillation process for
the extraction of kerosene and for his use of albertite. Foulis' assertion of
having used albertite more than ten years earlier creates questions concerning
Gesner's "discovery" of albertite for use as an illuminating fuel.
)
Foulis & Gesner both made claims to being the first to exploit albertite
for illuminating fuel, Foulis with illuminating gas, and Gesner with kerosene.
In several of Gesner's unsuccessfull lawsuits, Foulis served as a witness for
the defendants. Foulis was in partnership with Edward Allison, Alexander Wright
and the Cairne brothers, who were being sued by Gesner over mining rights, and
played a significant role in Gesner's troubles with both the Halifax Gas Light
Company and the court case of Gesner versus Cairnes in 1851.
In his defence against the Halifax Gas Light Company, Gesner quoted from a
series of handbills and placards written by "your scribbler and
coadjutor 'Robert Foulis'." Gesner claimed the "statements put
forth in your defamatory Foulis handbills to be untrue" and
"Not the least significant of these means have been the publication,
republication and distribution of scandalous slips of paper signed 'Robert
Foulis'.". Gesner devoted considerable space in his publication Gas
Monopoly to ridiculing Foulis and repudiating Foulis' claims.
While it is known that the Halifax Gas Light Company came out on the winning side, Foulis did not. He tried to mine his leases in Albert County until the late 1850's when he had a parting of ways with his partners Allison and Wright, a parting by means of "fisticuffs". Foulis lost this argument and the next four years saw him leave the mining fields, go blind with cataracts and begin a tough fight to gain recognition for his fog alarm invention.
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