ies. After
leaving the Andersonian, he followed Mr. Graham to London, when the
latter was appointed to the Professorship of Chemistry in London
University, and he continued to be associated with his old friend and
master until he accepted the position of manager of Muspratt's Chemical
Works at Newton, near Liverpool. Here he continued for four-and-a-half
years, improving, of course, his acquaintance with the practical
bearings of his favourite science, especially in regard to the
manufacture of alkali and bleaching powder, the staple products of
Muspratt's works. Mr. Young afterwards removed to Manchester, where he
undertook a responsible position in Tennant's Chemical Works--a branch
of Tennant's of Glasgow. This would be in the year 1843. While employed
in Manchester he received from Dr. Lyon Playfair, whose acquaintance he
had made while in the Andersonian University, a communication with
reference to the existence of a petroleum spring in Derbyshire. This may
almost be said to have been the turning point in Mr. Young's career. Dr.
Playfair stated that in his brother-in-law's coal mine in Derbyshire
there was a large quantity of petroleum, and he proposed that Mr. Young
should investigate the mine, and judge if anything could be made out of
it. A commission so responsible, and involving the exercise of so much
scientific skill, was just suited to Mr. Young's fancy. He went and
examined the springs, found petroleum dropping from the roof of the mine
over the coal, and the result was that he took a lease of the spring,
and worked the petroleum with the view to making it profitable. We may
here explain that petroleum is of different kinds, although in all its
diverse forms it retains the same qualities. It is an oleagenous
substance, naturally evolved from the earth, and may be found in all
degrees of thickness, from a very light substance found in some parts of
Persia, to a thick viscid substance more indigenous to Britain. Before
taking a lease of the petroleum spring, Mr. Young suggested the
advisability of Tennant's people taking it up, but they said it was too
small a matter for them. Mr. Young, however, in 1848, commenced to work
the spring for himself, producing two different oils--one a thick oil
for lubricating, and the other a thin oil for lamp burning. In course of
time it became evident that the petroleum was almost worked out, and Mr.
Young directed his attention to finding an artificial substitute for the
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