Do You Know?

What is coal? It is the remains of trees, plants, mosses, and other growing things which in ages past stood upon the face of the earth; layers of rock afterward covered them, and hundreds of thousands of years passed over them, pressing them and turning them to stone.

What is petroleum? It is exactly like coal: it comes of the decomposition of the plants and trees that once stood above the earth. It may also come of the decomposition of the animals that lived upon the face of the globe. Some scientists believe that petroleum is formed of matter composed of animal and plant together. Petroleum is drawn out of the earth, and it was known to the ancients: the temple of Jupiter in Rome was lit with petroleum drawn from springs in Sicily.

The discovery of petroleum came about in the latter part of the nineteenth century, when work was under way in prospecting for salt springs.

In the year 1831 a man named Mandel went hunting with his friends near a salt spring, and while he was asleep his rifle went off by fate and destiny, and the bullet split the earth. When morning came, Mandel saw an oily, strong-smelling substance flowing out of the crack. And when he kindled a fire, a spark of it flew toward that oil, and a tremendous flame blazed up from it. Thereupon people rushed to obtain petroleum, and a company was formed in New York for drilling and extracting this oil.