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

5o All About Inventions to his intentions rose to fever-pitch. But the reverend doctor had made a shrewd surmise, and he was going to put his deduction to the test. He approached the well, and applying the lighted candle to its mouth, had his expectations realised to the full, though it brought dismay to the surrounding onlookers. There was a loud report—a sheet of flame burst from the well. The countryfolk flew in terror to their homes, shouting excitedly as they did so, and in awestricken tones told those whom they passed about the burn- ing well, which they declared was charged with “ spirit ” gas. From their frantic alarm it is only possible to surmise that the good people of Warring- ton firmly believed the fire to come from the nether regions. The reverend doctor was the only man amongst them who remained calm. Recognising the terror he had unwittingly caused by his simple test, he restored the placidity of the residents in the vicinity before he returned to his home. But his experiment was long the topic of conversation in the north. The phenomenon set the reverend gentleman thinking deeply. To him it was not extraordinary, and he immediately embarked upon a number of experiments to determine whether he could not re- produce the effect in his laboratory, having discovered the character of the gas and its obvious origin. He built a tiny furnace, which was completely closed except for a small hole. This he charged- with soft coal and lit a fire beneath it. As the coal was cooked or, as we call it to-day, distilled or carbonised, steam came out of the aperture. This was water being driven off by evaporation. Then a stream of pungent, thick black fluid, resembling oil, oozed lazily from