288 CHEMICAL DISCOVERY AND INVENTION 



PETROLEUM IN BURMA 



Year ending December 31st, at 260 gallons per ton. 



Year. Gallons. Tons. 



1905 . . 142 millions . . 547,000 



1906 .. 138 .. 528,000 



1907 .. 149 .. 568,000 



1908 .. 173 .. 665,000 



1909 230 .. 885,000 



1910 212 .. 815,000 



1911 222 .. 854,000 



1912 .. 245 .. 943,000 



1913 273 .. 1,050,000 



1914 .. 255 .. 975,000 



The petroleum obtained from the Koetei district in Borneo 

 has become specially important in consequence of being found 

 to contain a large quantity of the hydrocarbons of the benzene 

 series, including benzene, toluene, mxylene, and mesitylene, 

 beside members of the naphthalene series. The less volatile 

 portions, like some of the Russian oils, are optically active. 

 (H. 0. Jones and H. A. Wootton. Trans. Chem. Soc., 1907.) 



Crude petroleum is an unattractive brown or nearly black 

 liquid which floats on water. Though inflammable and when blown 

 into spray mixed with a sufficient supply of air it may be em- 

 ployed in locomotive engines or under boilers for raising steam, 

 it is not well fitted for burning in lamps, as a source of light, 

 owing to its viscidity and the presence of impurities. In order 

 to obtain from it various useful products it requires to be sub- 

 mitted to distillation. The refineries in which petroleum is thus 

 dealt with are usually situated at a considerable distance from 

 the oil-field. Consequently the question of conveyance becomes 

 one of great practical importance. 



During the first ten years, 91 thereabout, of the American oil 

 industry the crude oil was carried chiefly in barrels from the 

 wells to the refineries, but as the business grew this method was 

 not only expensive, but quite inadequate to deal with the very 

 large quantities of oil obtained. The greater part of the oil has 

 long been conveyed by means of lines of iron pipes which com- 

 monly run alongside the railway track. These pipes vary in diame- 

 ter from four inches up to as much as eight inches, but owing 



