44 REPORT—1890. 
until about thirty-five years ago, at which time Dr. Hugo Miiller, with 
tke late Warren De la Rue, whose many-sided labours and generous bene- 
factions have so importantly contributed to the advancement of science, 
made valuable researches on the products furnished by crude oil imported 
from Rangoon. The resources of the oil-fields of Upper Burmah, especi- 
ally of the district of Yenangyoung (or creek of stinking water), have since 
then been developed by British enterprise, and have attained to consider- 
able importance since our annexation of Upper Burmah. 
The great extension of the petroleum trade is gradually leading to 
very important improvements in the system of transport of the material 
over waterand on land. Until recently this has been carried out entirely in 
barrels and tin cases ; the consequent great loss from leakage and evapora- 
tion, accompanied by risk of accident, is now becoming much reduced by 
the rapidly-increasing employment of tank-steamers, which transport the 
oil in bulk. Tank railway-wagons have for some time past been in use in 
Russia, and there is prospect of these and of tank-barges being adopted 
here for the distribution of the oil; while in London, the practice is 
already spreading gradually of distributing supplies to tradesmen from 
tank road-wagons. Some considerable doubt as to whether the risk of 
accident has not rather been altered in character than actually reduced 
by the new system of transport, has not unnaturally been engendered in 
the public mind by the occurrence within a comparatively short period of 
several serious disasters during the discharge of cargoes from tank-vessels. 
The memorable explosion which took place in October 1888, on board 
the ‘ Ville de Calais,’ in Calais Harbour, with widespread destructive 
effects, was followed by a similarly serious explosion in the ‘ Fergusons,’ 
at Rouen last December, and, more recently, by a fire of somewhat 
destructive character at Sunderland, resulting from the discharge into 
the river of petroleum-residues from a ship’s tanks. In all these cases 
the petroleum was of a nature to allow inflammable vapour to escape 
readily from the liquid, so that an explosive mixture could be rapidly 
formed by its copious diffusion through the air. No similar casualty has 
been brought to notice as having happened to tank-ships carrying petro- 
leum oil of which the volatility is in accordance with our legal require- 
ments, and this points to the prudence of restricting the application of 
the tank system to the transport and distribution of such petroleum as 
complies with well-established conditions of safety. 
Another most remarkable feature connected with the development of 
the petroleum industry is presented by the utilisation, within the last few 
years, of the vast supplies of natural inflammable gas furnished by the 
oil-fields. 
In America this remarkable gas-supply was for a long time only 
used locally, but before the close of 1885 its conveyance to a distance 
by pipes, for illuminating and heating purposes, had assumed large 
proportions, one of the- companies in Pittsburgh having alone laid 335 
