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The Age of Oil 299 level. In Mexico they generally have to be carried to the 1,500-foot mark. In Burma, another rich oil-yielding country, and. Roumania., they are being continued to far greater depths, the uppermost beds having been exhausted to such a degree as to be un- profitable. By driving deeper it is possible to tap another bed of equal if not greater wealth. In Galicia the majority of drills have to be carried down to 3,000 and 4,000 feet, while some have passed the “ mile deep” limit. Under these circumstances the cost of sinking an oil-well may very easily involve an outlay ranging between £3»°°° and £6,000 or more. The early well-drillers were not slow to observe one curious circumstance attending their task. As the oil bed was approached powerful indications of the fact became observable. Large volumes of oil- gas welled up the borehole. In those days the drillers regarded this vapour as an unmitigated nuisance. Its presence behoved them to take more than ordinary precautions that there were no naked lights not even a cigarette—within the vicinity. If there were, then the gas spreading along the surface of the ground was likely to quarrel with the light, the result being a terrifying and exasperating conflagration. As a rule, when this gas was detected, arrangements were completed for drawing it off, carrying it through piping to a distant point, and there allowing it to be consumed in the open air by merely applying a light to the open pipe-end. But as the oil industry developed, and the hap- hazard gave way to more scientific methods, ingenious minds began to inquire whether this gas could not be turned to useful account. It was examined and