We have no idea how long ago men first found petroleum or mineral oil...
We have no idea how long ago men first found petroleum or mineral oil. What may be the earliest reference to its use occurs in a Chinese chronicle of the third century B.C. A mineshaft dug for the extraction of rock salt was illuminated by a primitive lighting system, but the deposit became exhausted and its existence was forgotten. The Byzantines used an oily liquid with an unpleasant smell 'which burnt in the water' against the Turkish fleet when it attacked Constantinople. Bundles of tow were soaked in this oil and then most successfully as missiles against the enemy. The oil came from Baku in Armenia, where it had been discovered by the engineer Callinico. The picture shows oil-extracting machinery and a derrick.
Did you know?
That when the apothecary Samuel Kier saw Indians using oil as a medicine, he started selling bottles of a mysterious liquid which he claimed would cure bronchitis?
That in 1840 the Russian governor of Baku sent some oil samples to the Academy of Science in St Petersburg? The Academy's verdict was that the product might be useful for greasing cartwheels!
Many products are derived from petroleum. They include motor fuels such as naphtha, petrol and benzene; detergents, solvents, insecticides, synthetic fibers, cosmetics, medicines, plastics, fertilizers, paints, lubricants, asphalt, synthetic rubber, and many others