THE SCOTTISH OIL MANIA OF 1864‐6*
| Published date | 01 June 1965 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9485.1965.tb00689.x |
| Date | 01 June 1965 |
THE SCOTTISH
OIL
MANIA
OF
1864-6*
JOHN
BUTT
1
ALTHOUGH man has made use of oils and bitumens for countless
centuries,
an
efficient coal-tar and mineral oil technology has only
evolved within the last two centuries.
A
cosmopolitan achievement
associated mainly with gas engineers and industrial chemists, it was
an industrial response to the increased marketing opportunities made
available by the industrialisation of Western Europe. Technically,
it was greatly influenced by the gradual transfer of the British metal-
lurgical industries from charcoal to coke, since the search for sub-
stitutes for wood-tar and pitch, especially for naval stores, led to
the exploitation of gas-coals and oil-shales, and this, in turn, stimu-
lated the growth of the petroleum industry.' Commercially, there
were several important stimuli. The growth of population increased
the demand for lamp oils and candles while the demand for organic
lubricants to replace more expensive and less effective natural oils
provided the brightest and most immediate profit horizon. Both in
Europe and the United States, the development of a differentiated
market for mineral oil products was an essential prelude to the
growth of the petroleum industry. Scots and Scotland played a notable
part in this development, but rather surprisingly, the great expansion
of the Scottish shale-oil industry only occurred when it was already
apparent that petroleum would be the ultimate beneficiary.
I1
As
Jonston's reference2 to
'
Bitumen Terrenum
or
Lithantrax
called Pharmacitis
'
testifies, Scottish interest in oil-shales and ole-
fiant cannel coals is at least as old as the third quarter of the seven-
teenth century. But, apart from abortive ventures like Dundonald's
*
I
am very grateful for the comments
on
this subject which
I
have
received at various times from Professors
T.
C. Barker,
R.
H.
Campbell,
S.
G.
Checkland and
S.
G.
E.
Lythe.
'Cf. my forthcoming article, Technical Change and the Growth
of
the
British
Oil
Industry,
1680-1870,
in
Economic History
Review.
J.
Jonston,
Thaurnaiographia Naturalis
(Amsterdam,
1665),
p.
146.
195
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