The French and Italian Governments have asserted that, but for this specific offer of toluol, the manufacture of high explosives would have had to remain so limited, that it would have been impossible to bring about an Allied Victory in 1918. Their thanks were publicly extended to the Shell Company at the conclusion of hostilities, and Mr. H. W. Deterding and the Asiatic Petroleum Company were specially thanked, while as far back as 1915, Sir Marcus Samuel, Bart., received the thanks of the British Government for his invaluable war services. It was only after the firing of the guns had ceased on all Fronts, that it was permissible to record in what a remarkable manner these services were rendered. The exigencies of space have prevented my dealing, excepting in the most brief manner, with this interesting subject: I only hope I have succeeded in showing that, in times of war, as well as in those of peace, petroleum products occupy the position of first importance. CHAPTER XII THE SCOTTISH SHALE-OIL INDUSTRY In view of the great interest which is now being centred in the production of petroleum in the British Isles--thus making this country to a large extent less dependent upon foreign sources of supply--the Shale-oil Industry of Scotland is assuming a new importance, for the reason that it is in the direction of the development of new oil-shale areas in several parts of the country that experts look with a great amount of confidence. It is specially interesting, therefore, to deal at some length with the growth of the industry, the methods by which the oil shales are operated, and the prospects for its extension. The name of Dr. James Young, of Renfrewshire, will ever be associated with the commercial exploitation of the oil-bearing shales in the Midlothians, for it was due to his enterprise that the Scottish shale-oil industry really owed its birth and much of its later development. It was while Young was managing a chemical works at Liverpool that his attention was drawn to small flows of oil which came from a coal seam at Alfreton, in Derbyshire. This was in 1847, and after experimenting with the liquid, Young succeeded in extracting therefrom on a commercial scale both a light burning oil and a lubricant, as well as wax. When the supply became exhausted, Dr. Young had an idea to imitate the natural processes by which he believed the oil had been formed. The outcome of this was the well-known Young patent for obtaining paraffin oil and other products from bituminous coals at slow distillation.