Abstract
THAT the great effect produced by oil in smoothing troubled waters should have been so well known in times past as to have passed into a proverb, and yet that no general practical use of this effect should have been made until the last few years, is a remarkable instance of the tardiness of mankind to apply the benefits that natural phenomena provide. To the Hydrographic Office of the United States is mainly due the credit of bringing into prominence, and forcing on the notice of seamen, in various publications, the great importance of this property of oil under circumstances when life and property are endangered by breaking seas, and the extreme facility and trifling expense of its employment. Thanks to the efforts of the Americans, the facts are now well known to all English-speaking mariners, and many are the instances of the successful use of oil; but, nevertheless, the prejudices of many are still against it.
Le Filage de l'Huile.
Par le Vice-Amiral G. Cloué. (Paris: Gauthier-Villars, 1887.)
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WHARTON, W. Oil on Troubled Waters . Nature 37, 435–436 (1888). https://doi.org/10.1038/037435a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/037435a0
