He then quotes the language of Mr. Chief Justice GIBSON, in Schuylkill Navigation Co. vs. Moore, 2 Wheaton, 477, as follows:

"The best construction is that which is made by viewing the subject as the mass of mankind would view it; for it may safely be assumed that such was the aspect in which the parties themselves viewed it."

And concludes:

"Certainly in popular estimation petroleum is not regarded as a mineral substance any more than is animal or vegetable oil, and it can, indeed, only be so classified in the most general or scientific sense. How, then, did the parties to the contract under consideration, think and write? As scientists, or as business men using the language and governed by the ideas of every-day life?"

To the same effect were the remarks of FIELD, J., in the Eureka Case, 4 Sawy. (U. S.), 311:

"These acts were not drawn by geologists or for geologists; they were not framed in the interest of science, and consequently with scientific accuracy in the use of terms. They were framed for the protection of miners in the claims which they had located and developed, and should receive such construction as will carry out this purpose.'

Followed in Cheesman vs. Shreeve, 40 Fed. R., 787 (1889).

As to intent of the parties, contemporanea expositio est optima et fortissima in lege. Connery vs. Brooke, 73 Pa., 80 (1873).

Sec. 5.

Mr. Justice WILLIAMS, in Wettengel vs. Gormley, 160 Pa., 567 (1894), gives an interesting description, pertinent to the facts in that case, of the early stages of the production of petroleum.

"It is well understood among oil operators that the fluid is found deposited in a porous sand rock, at a distance ranging from

five hundred to three thousand feet below the surface. This rock is saturated throughout its extent with oil, and when the hard stratum overlying it is pierced by the drill, the oil and gas find vent, and are forced, by the pressure to which they are subject, into and through the well to the surface. After this pressure is relieved by the outflow, the wells become less active. The movement of the oil in the sand rock grows sluggish, and it becomes necessary to pump the wells both to quicken the movement of oil from the surrounding rock, and to lift it from the chamber at the bottom of the well to the surface. An oil or gas well may thus draw its product from an indefinite distance, and in time exhaust a large space. Exact knowledge on this subject is not at present attainable, but the vagrant character of the mineral, and the porous sand rock in which it is found and through which it moves, fully justify the general conclusion we have stated above, and have led to its general adoption by practical operators. For this reason, an oil lease partakes of the character of a lease for general tillage, rather than that of a lease for mining and quarrying the solid minerals."

Sec. 6. Natural Gas.

Inflammable gas is formed in great abundance within the earth in connection with carbonaceous deposits, such as coal and petroleum; and similar accumulations not unfrequently occur in connection with deposits of rock salt. The gases from any of these sources, escaping by means of fissures or seams to the open air, may be collected and burned in suitable arrangements, and are commonly called "natural gas." Though gas is a mineral, it is subject to the decisions governing ordinary minerals with many qualifications, and is controlled by rules analogous to those governing water percolating beneath the surface. Water, oil and, still more strongly, gas may be classed by themselves, and have not been inaptly

termed minerals feræ naturæ. Am. & Eng. Cyc. Law, Vol. 16, pp. 220-221, and cases cited.

In Kier vs. Peterson, 41 Pa., 361 (1861), it was spoken of by Mr. Justice READ, as follows:

"In Marietta, in the State of Ohio, the inflammable gas is a constant attendant upon brine springs, so that its appearance while boring in search of rock salt is looked upon as an indication of a favorable result; and in China the inflammable gas has been used to boil the brine and also to heat and light the buildings in which the salt is prepared. On the shores of the Caspian Sea there is a tract called the Field of Fire, which continually emits inflammable gas, while springs of naphtha and petroleum occur in the same vicinity."

Sec. 7. The Same.

Natural gas is not heat; nor can a company, incorporated under a statute providing for the creation of companies for supplying heat, furnish natural gas. Emerson vs. Comwth., 108 Pa., 126 (1885).

The Supreme Court of Indiana has said, however, that, less common than wood or oil, it is nevertheless a fuel. Cit. Gas & Min. Co. vs. Elwood, 114 Ind., 126.

As to whether it is included in the words "other valuable volatile substances" when used in a lease in connection with the words petroleum, rock or carbon oil, the court should order the issue tried by a jury, as the words have no well-defined meaning, and are ambiguous. Ford vs. Buchanan, 111 Pa., 31 (1886).

Sec. 8.

It is as much an article of commerce as iron ore, coal, petroleum or any other of the like products of the earth. It is a commodity which may be trans

ported and bought and sold in the markets of the country. And a statute forbidding the transportation of the gas from the State is void, as in conflict with the Constitution of the United States providing that the regulation of commerce shall be with the Congress. State vs. Ind. Oil, Gas & Min. Co., 120 Ind., 338.

The words "oil" and "gas" are not synonymous when used in a lease; accordingly the production of gas alone will not satisfy a condition requiring the production of petroleum, rock or carbon oil. Palmer vs. Truby, 136 Pa., 556 (1890).*

Sec. 9.

The fullest and certainly very able discussions as to whether natural gas is or is not a mineral, are to be found in the following Canadian cases, in which certain leading cases of the courts of the United States are recognized and followed.

In Ontario Nat. Gas Co. vs. Smart, 19 Ont. R., 595 (1890), the question arose upon the construction of Sec. 565 of the Municipal Act, which is as follows:

"The corporation of any township or county, wherever minerals are found, may sell, or lease, by public auction or otherwise, the right to take minerals found upon or under any roads over which the township or county may have jurisdiction, if considered expedient so to do."

Said STREET, J.:

"There is absolutely nothing in this enactment which appears to control or restrict what the legislature expressed, or to explain what they meant when they gave the corporations mentioned in it the right to deal with minerals.'

* Other definitions will be found in Chapter V, "Words and Phrases."

"I have not been able to discover that it should be held that the intention was to restrict the word used to any particular class or variety of minerals. * * *

"I have referred to the meaning given to the word 'mineral' in many dictionaries, and also in the current works upon mines and mining, and to the discussions in a number of cases in which the question has been considered. See McSwinney on Mines, pp. 11 to 17; Bainbridge on Mines, 4th Ed., pp. 1 to 6; Hartwell vs. Camman, 3 Morrison's Mining Reports, 229; the cases collected in Earl of Ross vs. Wainman, 10 Morrison's Mining Reports, pp. 398 to 421; Allison and Evans Appeal, 11 Morrison's Mining Reports, pp. 142 to 151; Johnston's Appeal, 15 Morrison's Mining Reports, 556; Dunham vs. Kirkpatrick, 101 Penn., 36; Hext vs. Gill, L. R. 7 Ch., 699; Lord Provost and Magistrates of Glasgow vs. Farie, 13 App. Cas., 657; Earl of Jersey vs. Guardians, etc., of Meath Poor Law Union, 22 Q. B. D., 555, 558; Elwes vs. Brigg Gas Co., 33 Ch. D., 562.

"In most, if not all of the cases to which I have referred, the word was used in connection with a context which threw some light upon the meaning and sense in which it was to be interpreted, for it appears to be a word which is capable of a very extended meaning, when full scope may properly be given to it. For example, in the report of the Geological Survey of the State of Pennsylvania, referred to in Dunham vs. Kirkpatrick, 101 Penn., at p. 41, the mineral products of the State are classified as follows: Petroleum, coal, natural gas, building stone, flag stone, building brick, fire clay, limestone, iron ore, mineral paint, and mineral water.' In that case, however, the context of the deed in which the word minerals was used was held so to control its meaning as to prevent its extending to petroleum oil.

"In Hext vs. Gill, L. R. 7 Ch., 699, Mellish, L. J., stated at p. 712, the result of the authorities to be that a reservation of minerals includes every substance which can be got from under. neath the surface of the earth for the purpose of profit, unless there is something in the context or in the nature of the transaction to induce the court to give a more limited meaning" * * *

"It is said by Lord Macnaghten in Lord Provost vs. Farie, 13 App. Cas., 657, above referred to, at p. 690, that it has been laid down that the word minerals when used in a legal docu