oti the Oil Question. 117 



repeatedly prophesied, and like her, have been fated not to be 

 believed. 



" Tunc etiam fatis aperit Cassandra futuris 

 Ora, Dei jussu noii uuquatn credita Teucris." 



I am aware that there are but few occasions on which I 

 ought to speak of myself in public ; but, called upon as I have 

 been, I trust I may be excused in saying, that nothing can ever 

 deprive me of the satisfaction which results from the recollection 

 of the successful exertions which I have made, in conjunction 

 with others, to expose the absurdity and dangerous tendency of a 

 series of extravagant and delusive theories, which had been pro- 

 mulgated for the purpose of propping an unworthy cause ; and 

 which would, if either of them could have been established, 

 have had the effect of depriving a company of deserving in- 

 dividuals of no less a sum than sixty-three thousand pounds, 

 to which they were in law and equity entitled. 



It is also no small source of gratification to me to reflect, that 

 I have in some measure been instrumental in warding off the 

 attacks which had been so repeatedly aimed at the Patentee of 

 the Oil Apparatus, and also of proving to the satisfaction of the 

 public, that his process for boiling sugar and many other sub- 

 stances by means of heated oil, is not only ingenious and easy 

 of application, but perfectly safe and economical ; and that, in 

 a variety of ways, it is likely to become one of the most useful 

 inventions that has for many years past been presented by 

 Philosophy to the Arts. 



