All About Inventions and Discoveries
The Romance of modern scientific and mechanical Achievements

The Age of Oil 3°3 sides of the wonderful revolution which oil has wrought upon our very existence. It has brought in the motor- car for pleasure and commerce, and the motor-bus and taxi-cabs which rank to-day as the fleetest and most mobile vehicles engaged in the public service. It has contributed to the conquest of the air, and is even revolutionising movement across the seven seas. It is threatening coal as fuel for our steamships. Whereas stoking with the solid fuel imposes a pro- nounced strain upon physical effort, there is nothing so simple as oil-firing. Exertion is confined to the turning of a tap, while the stokehold is cleaner and more endurable to humanity. From the point of national security oil has rendered us invaluable assistance, inasmuch as it has directly provided us with the fastest and most formidable capital warship afloat. Indeed, all things considered, it may be said in very truth that the community is becoming daily more and more dependent upon petroleum ; it promises to survive as the one force which will drive the world.