which there abounded was exceedingly rich in
oil. Mr. Young becoming apprised of the fact,
lost no time in acquiring a lease of the coal-
field; and in the year following he opened the
Bathgate Paraffine Works, which, in the course
of a few years, converted a small weaving
village, with a population of three thousand
souls, into an industrious hive of upwards of
ten thousand.

For the sake of convenience we have described
the substance from which the future paraffine
was to be made as Linlithgowshire " coal;" but
this designation has been denied it by learned
and competent authorities. To the unpractised
eye, however, it is purely a species of coal, and
may be regarded essentially as such. It is a
hard, lustreless, rusty, black- coloured mineral,
very brittle, and apt to break into thin slabs
like slates. Perhaps there are few more notable
instances of the truth, that you can get men to
swear that black is white, and white black, than
in connexion with the " coal" to which we are
referring. As has been said, it was the subject
of a celebrated law-suit. The proprietor to
whom the coal-field belonged, becoming aware
in due course that an invaluable article called
paraffine was being distilled from it, which was
rapidly pouring a fortune into the treasury of
the distiller, demanded a very large increase of
rental. This was refused, and the dispute went
to court. The case dragged its slow length for
years. Geologists, naturalists, mineralogists,
ehemists, colliers; witnesses, learned and unlearned,
were ranged on either side and pitted
against each other. The proprietor of the
estate and his friends declared that the substance
out of which paraffine was being manufactured
was not " coal," as defined in the lease,
but a mineral of a distinct species, and that
therefore he had the right to increase the rental
(seeing the mineral had turned out so valuable),
or to get the lease cancelled. Mr. Young and his
witnesses, on the other hand, averred that the
substance was coal, and none other than coal;
and that if he had discovered valuable properties
in it he should reap the benefit. The dispute,
as is generally the case, was ultimately found
to have benefited no one but the lawyers.

Leaving history, let us pass to the process of
manufacture. Here the most wonderful part of
the tale has to be related. Few persons who
are accustomed to use the pure white candles,
delicate as wax in their hue, and known
popularly by the name of " composites;" and
the clear oil, almost as transparent as water,
which is called paraffine;" have any idea that
both are produced from a dull, compact coal,
totally devoid of the lustre which gives to that
mineral the appellation of the " black diamond."
And yet this seeming miracle is achieved by the
aid of chemistry—that strange science which
changes and transmutes substances, and reveals
properties hidden and mysterious at the will or
instigation of the student. The process by
which the change is effected is complicated and
laborious; but, freed from its technicalities, it
may be easily explained.

The coal yields four different articles, all of
which are largely employed in daily life, and
have given rise to a considerable commerce.
There is, first, the paraffine oil for burning, at
present manufactured by thousands of gallons
which, in many parts of England, where gas is
still unknown, is the staple commodity of illumination.
Then a second quality of the same
oil, considerably cruder and coarser, which, on
account of its cheapness and general aptitude,
is largely employed for lubricating machinery.
Naphtha comes next upon the list—a light,
volatile fluid; much used by travelling showmen
to light up their stalls and tents. Lastly,
there is solid paraffine—a pure, white, shining,
tasteless substance, scarcely distinguishable
from wax, which is manufactured into candles.
These substances, though widely differing in
colour, properties, and consistency, are all
manufactured by nearly the same process, the
difference consisting merely in the number of
times that a particular operation is repeated.

Boghead mineral is the name of the coal employed
in the manufacture of paraffine; and this
is conveyed from the pits direct into the heart
of the works, by means of branch lines of railway.
Arrived here, the coal is passed through
a huge iron crushing-machine, and broken into
small pieces, to facilitate the labour of subsequent
stages. The first result to be achieved
is to extract the crude oil from the coal. This
is effected by means of retorts, into which the
mineral is put, and the oleaginous matter extracted
by burning. These retorts may, for our
purposes, be described as huge upright iron
pipes passing through furnaces. The coal is
filled into the pipe or tube by the top, which is
then closed with an air-tight valve; and the
bottom of the pipe is led into a pool of water to
prevent the entrance of air from below. A low
red heat of uniform temperature is maintained
constantly in the retorts. As the coal is acted
upon by the fire, it descends gradually in the
tube and becomes entirely decomposed. The
essential or oleaginous property of the mineral
passes off in vapour, and the refuse falls through
the bottom of the pipe into the pool of water,
and is raked away. The vapour or steam, as it
is generated by the decomposition of the coal, is
carried off by a pipe in the side of the retort.
This pipe again communicates with a series of
pipes placed upright in the open air, and arranged
on the same principle as the bars of
a common gridiron, after the fashion that prevails
in gasworks. The vapour, in travelling
through this labyrinth of pipes, cools, is condensed
into liquid, and is run off into an immense
reservoir sunk into the ground. The
crude, oily liquor thus collected is a thick,
black, greasy fluid, not unlike tar, which moves
with a sluggish motion when stirred, and gives off
inflammable vapours at the usual atmospheric
temperature. This coarse oil, both in its properties
and appearance, closely resembles natural
petroleum, and is equal to the rock oil, which,
is we have seen, was obtained in Derbyshire.

The raw material thus procured by simple
burning is kept stored in the tank, and is only
drawn off when required. To the observer