Page:All the Year Round - Series 2 - Volume 1.djvu/68

 limited, he is ornamental as a companion to old customers and a guarantee of respectability to new acquaintances.

the paraffine about which we read so much in the newspapers? How was it discovered, where is it obtained, what are its properties, by what means is it manufactured? Daily we read of its marvellous capabilities, its destructive powers, and the numerous and strange uses to which it can be applied. Occasionally we are startled with reports of terrible disasters which it has occasioned: railway trains burnt to ashes, as at Abergele recently; houses blown into ruins and the inhabitants maimed and killed; heads of quiet households startled into hysterics by the unexpected explosion of the evening lamps; ships lost at sea by incautious stowage of the barrels containing the liquid. Painfully familiar is the reading public with the name of paraffine; but to most persons it is a name and nothing more.

And yet its history has in it something of romance. The discovery of the mineral from which it is extracted was an accident. Its manufacture was for a long time a secret. The profits which arose from its production gave rise to a law-suit, as famous and interminable as those of Plainestanes v. Peebles, or Jarndyce v. Jarndyce. Its production suddenly raised a poor, almost unknown, district, into a thriving and populous seat of industry. Added to all this, the processes to which it is subjected are among the most curious and interesting in modern chemistry.

The word paraffine is almost new to the language, its introduction dating back only so far as the year 1847. About that time, Professor Lyon Playfair, who was travelling in Derbyshire, had his attention drawn to a thick, dark, oily fluid trickling from some rents in a coal mine. The peculiarity of the liquid arrested his thoughts; and after due calculation and experiment, he arrived at the conclusion that this substance, which was, through ignorance, allowed to run to waste, contained properties of a very remarkable and valuable character. Being himself occupied with other investigations, he communicated the result of his observations to Mr. James Young, an acquaintance of an analytical turn of mind, and encouraged him to conduct experiments with the view of testing the qualities of the crude and mysterious liquor. Acting upon the hints thus given, and sustained by strong hopes of a successful issue, that gentleman took the matter in hand, bringing to the prosecution of the work great experience, perseverance, and no inconsiderable degree of knowledge as a practical chemist. The result far exceeded his expectations. Subjected to distillation, the coarse fluid yielded a pale yellow-coloured oil, full of floating lustrous particles. Further experiments proved these to be crystals of paraffine—a substance then only known to the learned. This discovery led to the establishment in Derbyshire of a small manufactory, for distilling burning and lubricating oils from the coarse petroleum issuing from the coal-mine. The venture proved exceedingly remunerative; and for two years a pretty extensive trade in the new oils was maintained.

Suddenly the supply of the raw material ceased: the trickling stream of coarse petroleum was dried up; and the manufactory was stopped. The untoward event caused much chagrin to the proprietor, who was beginning to look forward with assurance to the foundation of a highly profitable source of commerce. He found himself at once cut off from employment, and the experiments which had cost him so much toil and anxiety threatening to become valueless. Indomitable will saved him from despair. He felt persuaded that a substitute could be found for the petroleum, and to the discovery of this his energies were directed. Reflection and observation had, some time before, caused him to arrive at the conclusion that the crude petroleum was produced by simple natural causes; and further study of the subject convinced him that those causes were merely the gradual distillation of coal by means of subterranean heat. This was a great step in advance. Prospects of success again dawned upon him, and he looked forward to the early resumption of his manufactory. One desideratum only remained, and that was to be able to produce an artificial petroleum equal to the natural rock-oil, the supply of which he had exhausted. This difficulty also yielded to perseverance; and after two years' investigations in the laboratory, he found that a liquid of an oleaginous kind, similar in its properties to the natural oil, was obtained by subjecting coal to distillation at a low temperature.

These preliminary obstacles vanquished, the next point to be considered was, where to procure the requisite mineral? Petroleum, it was found, could be extracted from any coal of a bituminous nature; but the species known as cannel coal yielded the largest quantities. Even this, however, was not sufficiently rich in oil-producing qualities to induce Mr. Young to revive the manufacture. He feared that the expense would be too great, and that the quantity of petroleum produced would be in very small proportion to the amount of coal consumed. Various coal-fields were surveyed, and numerous investigations were conducted, with the view of deciding whether a mineral could not be procured which would yield a fair supply of oil; but for a long time the result was despaired of. Almost every coal was suitable, but none was sufficiently prolific. Clearly, little prospect of establishing another manufactory! Just as weariness of the heart, arising from hope deferred, was setting in, a discovery was made in Linlithgowshire which gave a new turn to events, and promised to realise the most sanguine wishes of the investigator. This was in the year 1850. Borings, which had been carried on near Bathgate far some time, made known the fact that a peculiar kind of coal