185 
Ordinary Meeting, February 23rd, 1869. 
R. Angus Smith, Ph.D., F.R.S., &c., Vice-President, in 
the Chair. 
Mr. Robert B. Smart, Surgeon, was elected an Ordinary 
Member of the Society. 
The Rev. William Gaskell, M.A., was elected a Vice- 
President of the Society. 
Mr. E. W. Binney, F.R.S., F.G.S., said the most remark- 
able rise and progress of a trade in modern times was that 
of petroleum. Twelve years ago the article was almost 
unknown as an article of commerce. In 1861, according to 
the trade circulars, the export of it from the United States 
was 1,194,682 gallons, while in 1869 it reached 99,148,947 
gallons. The daily produce of the wells of crude oil for the 
last year has varied, at times falling to 9,000 barrels, and at 
other times rising to 13,000. The average daily production 
for the year may be put at 10,200 barrels. The home con- 
sumption in America must be immense, but it is not given. 
In 1843, when he read a paper before this Society, show- 
ing that petroleum could be produced from the decomposi- 
tion or rather distillation of peat at a low temperature, little 
was known of the origin or utility of this product. This . 
paper, was not printed in the Transactions of the Society. 
In the minutes of the meeting of 3 1st October, 1843, is the 
following entry, “ Read a paper by Mr. E. W. Binney, 
entitled ‘An Account of the Petroleum found in Down- 
holland Moss.’ ” This paper having the name of Mr. W. H. 
Proceedings — Lit. & Phil. Society. — Yol.YIII— N o. 11. — Session, 1868-9, 
