A PIECE OF COAL. 
193 
against it, overflowed the country, tainting the air, be- 
fouling the soil, and poisoning all the streams in its 
neighbourhood. 
FIG. 56. Spouting oil well. 
In the great Russian 
field of Baku the flow of 
coal-oil is still more diffi- 
cult to control than in 
our own country. The 
heaviest derricks have 
been swept away like 
straws, well casings blown high in air, and the- oil 
in columns as thick as a man's body has spouted 
14 
