like
Oil.

When we came to the said Spring (being 5 or 6 in Company
together) and applied a lighted Candle to the Surface of the
Water; there was 'tis true, a large Flame suddenly produced,
which burnt the Foot of a Tree, growing on the Top of a
neighbouring Bank, the Water of which Spring filled a Ditch
that was there, and covered the Burning-place; I applied the
lighted Candle to divers Parts of the Water contained in the
said Ditch, and found, as I expected, that upon the Touch of
the Candle and the Water the Flame was extinct.

Again, having taken up a Dish full of water at the flaming
Place, and held the lighted Candle to it, it went out. Yet I
observed that the Water, at the Burning-place, did boil, and
heave, like Water in a Pot upon the Fire, tho' by putting my
Hand into it, I could not perceive it so much as warm.

This Boiling I conceived to proceed from the Eruption of some
bituminous or sulphureous Fumes; considering this Place was not
above 30 or 40 Yards distant from the Mouth of a Coal-Pit
there: And indeed _Wigan_, _Ashton_, and the whole Country, for
many Miles compass, is underlaid with Coal. Then, applying my
Hand to the Surface of the Burning-place of the Water, I found
a strong Breath, as it were a Wind, to bear against my Hand.

When the Water was drained away, I applied the Candle to the
Surface of the dry Earth, at the same Point where the Water
burned before; the Fumes took fire, and burned very bright and
vigorous. The Cone of the Flame ascended a Foot and a half from
the Superficies of the Earth; and the Basis of it was of the
Compass of a Man's Hat about the Brims. I then caused a Bucket
full of Water to be pour'd on the Fire, by which it was
presently quenched. I did not perceive the Flame to be
discoloured like that of sulphurous Bodies, nor to have any
manifest Scent with it. The Fumes, when they broke out of the
Earth, and press'd against my Hand, were not, to my best
Remembrance, at all hot.

Turning again to Dr. Clayton's experiments, we see that he pointed out
striking and valuable properties of coal-gas but apparently gave no
attention to its useful purposes. Furthermore, his account appears to
have attracted no particular notice at the time of its publication in
1739. Dr. Richard Watson in 1767 described the r