Although this great development in the use of mineral oils has taken place only within the last thirty years, it must not be thought that their use is altogether of modern invention.  That they were not altogether unknown in the fifth century before Christ is a matter of certainty, and at the time when the Persian Empire was at the zenith of its glory, the fires in the temples of the fire-worshippers were undoubtedly kept fed by the natural petroleum which the districts around afforded.  It is thought by some that the legend which speaks of the fire which came down from heaven, and which lit the altars of the Zoroastrians, may have had its origin in the discovery of a hitherto unknown petroleum spring.  More recently, the remarks of Marco Polo in his account of his travels in A.D. 1260 and following years, are particularly interesting as showing that, even then, the use of mineral oil for various purposes was not altogether unknown.  He says that on the north of Armenia the Greater is “Zorzania, in the confines of which a fountain is found, from which a liquor like oil flows, and though unprofitable for the seasoning of meat, yet is very fit for the supplying of lamps, and to anoint other things; and this natural oil flows constantly, and that in plenty enough to lade camels.”

From this we can infer that the nature of the oil was entirely unknown, for it was a “liquor like oil,” and was also, strange to say, “unprofitable for the seasoning of meat”!  In another place in Armenia, Marco Polo states that there was a fountain “whence rises oil in such abundance that a hundred ships might be at once loaded with it.  It is not good for eating, but very fit for fuel, for anointing the camels in maladies of the skin, and for other purposes; for which reason people come from a great distance for it, and nothing else is burned in all this country.”

The remedial effects of the oil, when used as an ointment, were thus early recognised, and the far-famed vaseline of the present day may be regarded as the lineal descendent, so to speak, of the crude medicinal agent to which Marco Polo refers.

The term asphalt has been applied to so many and various mixtures, that one scarcely associates it with natural mineral pitch which is found in some parts of the world.  From time immemorial this compact, bituminous, resinous mineral has been discovered in masses on the shores of the Dead Sea, which has in consequence received the well-known title of Lake Asphaltites.  Like the naphthas and petroleums which have been noticed, this has had its origin in the decomposition of vegetable matter, and appears to be thrown up in a liquid form by the volcanic energies which, are still believed to be active in the centre of the lake, and which may be existent beneath a stratum, or bed, of oil-producing bitumen.