I. On the Past, Present, and Future of the Scotch and Welsh Mineral Oil Trades

Abstract

Mr Taylor briefly sketched the early history of the distillation of carbonaceous minerals at a low red heat, noticing the first attempts both as scientific experiments and commercially. The experiments of Dr Clayton in 1728–29, as well as those of Dr Watson, Bishop of Landalf, shortly afterwards, were the first in the one direction; whilst the products obtained by an iron-worker, Becher, and others of his contemporaries in the same century, were practical results of this manufacture. It was not, however, till the commencement of the present century, when, contemporaneous with the introduction of steam and gas lighting, the importance of the manufacture was recognised, and workers in this field became numerous. The labours of Lord Dundonald, Reichenbach, Selligue, Duboisson, Hompesch, and Rees Reece, were severally passed under review. It was reserved, however, for Mr James Young to perfect and fully develop this manufacture. In this he was aided by the wonderful character of the Torbanehill mineral, the substance on which he first worked. From 1849 the infant manufacture had increased so as to assume gigantic proportions, both here and in the Western Hemisphere. Shortly after the expiry of Mr Young’s patent, it was found that the lower coal measures of Scotland and Wales contained vast quantities of bituminous shales and gas coals suitable for this manufacture. Consequently, numerous works were erected, and a vast capital embarked. The much greater development of the oil wells in the United States, at the same period, had seriously interfered with these ventures; the price of oil was now at a rate unthought of three years ago, and mostly all the recently erected works were shut up. Unless some new use arose for crude mineral oil, the development of our Scotch shale fields seemed, meanwhile, a hopeless task. There was no doubt, however, that the shales might be had recourse to on the failure of the gas-coal seams, which many competent judges affirm to be only a question of time.