THE ROYAL ARTILLERY INSTITUTION. 
278 
large volume of air before their ignition can be accompanied by 
explosive effects, is so slowly realised, that in public prints petroleum is 
still often spoken of as an explosive substance, although these very 
prints have recorded such events as the burning , in 1866, of warehouses 
at Bow containing 1000 barrels of petroleum, besides four barges laden 
with petroleum lying alongside the wharf, without any explosion ; and 
the ignition at New Jersey (in August, 1874) of a petroleum tank in 
the Erie Railway Company’s oil-yard, and the consequent burning of 
70,000 barrels of petroleum. The popular belief in the explosiveness of 
these simply inflammable liquids contrasts strangely with the fact that 
many explosions have been brought about by the careless employment 
of candles or other naked flames in premises where the volatile varieties 
have been stored, or where the operation of transferring the liquid from 
one vessel to another for purposes of sale is carried on, the result being 
the ignition of the explosive mixture produced by the volatilisation of 
the spirit and its diffusion through the air. This fact does indeed tend 
to discourage the hope that the proportion of accidental explosions of 
gunpowder which are apparently due to ignorance may become very 
greatly diminished by keeping its explosive properties before the minds 
of those using it. 
Although those petroleum accidents which are the results of careless¬ 
ness or ignorance are very difficult to attack, the community has 
unquestionably benefited very considerably in the matter of optional 
comparative security by the legislation of the last few years in connec¬ 
tion with the storage and sale of petroleum, imperfect though it still is. 
The prohibition of the sale of petroleum spirit of any kind, unless 
distinctly labelled so that the public may be alive to its specially 
dangerous nature as a very volatile liquid, and the limitation of its 
storage and sale, by properly licensed persons, to localities specially 
selected and inspected by responsible officials, have most certainly 
contributed greatly to the protection of the public against accidents 
entailed by the use of these materials. A still more important benefit 
which has resulted from legislation on this subject, aided by the zealous 
action of the Petroleum Association and of municipal authorities, is the 
almost complete exclusion from the market of such petroleum oil as 
yields inflammable vapour at temperatures considerably above the 
maximum atmospheric, temperatures of Great Britain. The danger 
arising more especially from the transport and storage of oils bearing 
names which apply to the properly refined and therefore safe petroleum- 
or coal-oils which do not demand special precautions for their safe 
storage and use, and are consequently not subject to any restrictive or 
precautionary regulations, renders the application of the existing legal 
regulations to the inspection of petroleum oils imported into England 
of special importance. Such inspection, if efficiently conducted, must 
afford important protection to consumers and communities, by main¬ 
taining strictly the line of demarcation which it has been the object of 
legislation to establish between very volatile and therefore highly 
inflammable petroleum- or coal-products and those liquid hydro-carbons 
of the same origin which are comparatively very safe illuminating 
materials, because they do not evolve vapour at any temperature below 
