LIQUID SUNLIGHT. 135 



XXIV. LIQUID SUNI^IQHT. 



PETROLEUM. 



THE history of the search for native oil is romantic. 

 Known for ages, it remained a mere curiosity till 1859. Even 

 in America, where popular intelligence is supposed to utilize 

 every possible advantage, petroleum rose only to the import- 

 ance of a quack remedy for aches and other evils. But sud- 

 denly it assumed the scepter of king. It ruled the plans and 

 lives of thousands ; it sent men blindly and stupidly in herds, 

 to the forks of streams in search of imaginary "ranges" and 

 fanciful "oil belts." The smell of petroleum was a craze. 

 Men pursued it with the sound and fury of dogs on the track 

 of their prey. They lost their power of reasoning on the sub- 

 ject. They could not be convinced that mineral oil is a geo- 

 logical product, fixed in its relations to the earth and to the 

 strata, as unchangeably and as intelligibly as iron or salt. 

 They would not listen to the counsel of science. Every man 

 was confident in his self-wisdom, and never inquired on what 

 grounds he believed and acted as he did. Repudiating the 

 advice of those whose special business it was to know some- 

 thing on the subject, they preferred the dictates of their own 

 ignorance ; they went by the scent of the stuff; they were led 

 by the nose; they put their money in the ground with the 

 assurance of infallibility and many of them have kept it 

 there, as the souvenir of a happy intoxication. There was 

 oil millions of barrels of it ; and many investors were fortu- 

 nate if not wise; and many, though wise, were not fortunate. 



It was a new situation. It must be confessed that geology 

 took up the subject as a novice; though with the great ad- 

 vantage of a knowledge of certain geological principles to 

 which the generation and accumulation of petroleum must 

 necessarily conform. But the geologist's inexperience in the 

 actual behavior of the product led to errors of judgment and 

 confessions of ignorance. Few geologists, however, manifested 

 that strength of confidence in opinions which is the character- 

 istic of weak or ignorant minds. Many, however, who ad- 



