At the moment the losses in this direction may not be so heavy as they have been in the past, for the simple reason that oil, in common with other commodities and in compliance with the inexorable law of supply and demand, has become more expensive. As the price rises the tendency to be sparing and careful becomes more marked, which only serves to prove that cheapness is the primary incentive to waste. Wherever machinery has to be kept steadily and rhythmically moving oil is indispensable, so that it is not a difficult matter, when we recall the immense quantity of machinery which is kept running in these islands to maintain our industries, and to furnish our homes with such amenities as water, gas, and electricity, to recognize that our consumption of this article must necessarily run into huge figures. Our imports do not extend the true index to our dependence upon this article, because appreciable quantities thereof are derived from domestic sources of supply, such as coal and shales. Machinery is insatiable in its hunger for oil. This circumstance, combined with the increasing price of the article, has been responsible for the display of striking fruitful thought and experiment in the discovery of effective substitutes. This is particularly noticeable in our machine-shops. A lubricating agent must be utilized to facilitate the cutting of metals. Oil is admittedly the most efficient and best suited for the purpose, but many excellent compounds have been evolved to consummate the desired end and to conspicuous advantage. In one machine-shop the consumption of oil by the large automatic tools became so heavy as to prompt experiment. Many expedients were evolved and submitted to practical test, but they failed from some peculiar cause or other. However, perseverance brought its due reward. A substitute at last was found, with the result that oil for cutting was abandoned. By the change over the firm in question succeeded in effecting a saving of £30--$150--per month on each large automatic machine it had in use by the supercession of oil for cutting. Doubtless opportunities for substitutes still exist in many other directions, but commercial rivalry under normal conditions, with enhanced prices prevailing in regard to costs of production, has not yet been sufficiently encountered to compel the use of the substitute in preference to the ostensible staple to secure manufacturing economies. But changes will, and must of necessity, be recorded as the struggle for trade develops.