The Greeks and Romans were acquainted with oil. The latter called it _bitumen_. In Low Latin it was _petroleus_, from _petra_--stone, and _oleum_--oil; and the word has come down to us through the scholars of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries who adopted it. In ancient mythology and literature oil is often mentioned. It is probably with oil that the Centaur--to avenge himself upon Hercules--was obliged to anoint the famous shirt of Nessus! "It is not without reason," says Plutarch, "that certain authors, wishing to restore truth to legend, assert that petroleum is the substance which Medea used to smear the crown and veil that play so great a part in the tragedies; for fire does not issue from them of itself, but when they are brought near a flame fire is communicated to them by some kind of attraction with such rapidity that the eye can scarcely follow it." Herodotus, in his works, mentions the oil-fields of Zante; Pliny those of Agrigente in Sicily; Plutarch those of Ecbatana and Babylon. "The land of Babylon," he says, "is impregnated with fire.... It is as though the soil, agitated by the fiery substances which lie concealed in its bosom, has a sort of pulse which makes it quake." When Alexander conquered these regions he was particularly astonished, in the province of Ecbatana, at "a gulf from which rivers of flame streamed continually, as though from an inexhaustible source."[5] His return to Babylon was celebrated by the burning of two parallel streams flowing through the streets. And one of his courtiers, to amuse him, caused a young man to be anointed with oil; scarcely had it touched his body when he was enveloped in flames. The Chinese have used oil for lighting from the most distant times; Europeans since the fourteenth century. It is difficult to go further back owing to the absence of documents during the Middle Ages. But what was Greek Fire, if not oil? In the fifteenth century we find traces of its use in medicine; and even at the present time the natives of Mosul and Bagdad use some of the purer varieties, which they call "mourn," as a dressing for serious wounds. Oil has some fame as a vermifuge; as, for example, the oil of Gabiau in the south of France. A curious memoir of François Clouet, who was entrusted with the task of embalming Francis I in 1547, mentions the use of an oil ("pétrolle") in the colouring of a waxen mask made in the dead king's likeness. In the eighteenth century Apsheron was again the astonishment of British travellers seeking a route to India. "The Russians drink it as a tonic and as a beverage," writes Jonas Hanway, who visited these regions in 1754, speaking of petroleum. "It never intoxicates. Used internally, it is also an excellent cure for gravel. Used externally, it is a valuable remedy in cases of scurvy, gout, and cramp. It is very good for removing stains from fabrics, and would be in more frequent use if it did not leave behind it an abominable smell."