some places chalk or lime has been employed instead of the alkaline lye to neutralize and fix the acid, and the chemical treatment, as it is called, is in other respects variously modified. Though this has been designated the "cold" treatment, the temperature should not be allowed to fall below 90° during these processes. At last the oils freed from most of their impurities are introduced into stills like those of the first set. The product which first comes over is a very light oil somewhat discolored, which is soon followed by a clear oil having little odor. This gradually increases in density from 0.733 to 0.820, up to which point the mixture of oils is classed as illuminating, and is without further preparation sufficiently pure to be at once barrelled for the market. After this the increasing depth of the color and the greater density of the product indicate that the light oils have been nearly exhausted, and the remaining portions are hence kept by themselves to afford the heavy lubricating oils, and also it may be, by means of frac tional distillation, the additional quantities of light oils they still contain, and finally the paraffine which is chiefly concentrated with the last portions. This substance when separated from the oils by filtration and pressure at low temperatures, is of a dark color and somewhat offensive odor; and to bleach and deodorize it have proved to be somewhat troublesome and expensive operations. Exposure to the sunlight has a bleaching effect; but the processes for this purpose have not yet been made public. When obtained perfectly pure and white, difficulties have been encountered in running it into candles, which are not common to other ma thick upon the bottom of the stills. It the sediment being drawn off, it is again is a much superior coke to that obtained washed with water, and this too, with the from the gas retorts, and in its structure is matters it has taken up, are drawn off. In coarsely honey-combed in the upper or last formed portions, gradually growing closer and more compact toward the bottom upon which it adheres. The distillation should be conducted at a temperature not exceeding 800° F., and the process may be rendered continuous by admitting a small stream of oil into the stills. The vapors passing through the goose-neck are condensed in a long worm kept in the water condenser, which should be, in the latter part of the distillation, at a temperature of 809 or more. It is necessary to guard against so low temperature as might cause the paraffine to solidify in the worm, which by stopping the flow of the products might result in blowing up the still. The heat is carefully regulated so that the oil comes over uniformly, flowing from the end of the worm in a steady stream. It is still of a greenish color, with more or less of its peculiar, disagreeable odor. Yet it is evidently purified to a considerable extent by its separation from the free carbon and other impurities, usually amounting to 10 or 12 per cent., which are left behind in the stills. The oils are next pumped into large cylindrical cisterns called agitators, to undergo the chemical treatment, which is in general the same as that practised by Selligue. An addition is made to them of a quantity of sulphuric acid, it may be to the amount of 5 per cent. The mixture is then violently agitated or made to sweep rapidly round by stirrers in the cisterns, moved by machinery. The pure oil and paraffine are unaffected by the chemical agents, but the carbonaceous particles and coloring matters are more or less charred and oxidized, and their condition is so changed that when the mixture is left for some hours to repose, they subside in great part togeth-terials used for this purpose. When cooled er with the acid, and these can then be in ordinary moulds the paraffine would crack drawn off leaving the partially purified oil in in lines radiating from the wick, and the exthe upper portion of the cisterns. This is terior would present a clouded, mottled sur next washed with about one fifth its quantity face. The method of obviating this difficul of water, which removes the soluble impu-ty, as described in the French work, "Le rities and a portion of the remaining acid. Technologiste," of 1859, is to use a mould These, after subsiding, being drawn off, a in two parts, that part for the point of the strong lye of potash or soda is introduced candle working in the other like a piston. into the oil, which neutralizes and fixes what These moulds being brought to the temperacid remains, and causes the precipitation of ature of melted paraffine are filled and then further portions of the coloring and tarry immediately plunged into water at nearly the matters. The mixture is again agitated and freezing point. Having remained 3 or 4 is then left six hours to repose, after which | minutes, they are taken out and exposed to a current of cool air for 15 or 20 minutes. which it might enter into competition with The candles then come out, as the movable other fuels upon a larger scale. Besides the part of the mould is pushed in, free from heavy and light oils, no other valuable prodefects. This method is successfully intro- ducts result from the distillation of the coal duced into the United States. Paraffine oils. Benzole is said not to be a product of candles have been made at some of the coal this process. It belongs, together with a oil works, as at those of New York, New special class of hydrocarbons designated as Bedford, and Portland. They are of beauti-the benzole series, to the tar of the gas ful appearance, resembling the best sperm works; and if ever obtained in the coal oil candles, and at the same time are more eco- distillation, it was declared that it must be nomical for the amount of light they afford. by bad management and the use of excess The oil that is pressed out from the paraffine of heat. It was found, after the discovery is useful chiefly as a lubricator, and from the and practical adoption of the petroleum as low temperature at which it is obtained, if an illuminating fluid, that from this, by the for no other reason, it is insured against refining and distilling processes, not only chilling in cold weather. The residue in benzine but naptha and other still more volthe stills, is a mixture of the tarry matters atile hydrocarbons were produced, and the with the portion of the chemical ingredients principal difficulty in reducing the petroleum that was introduced with the oils. For this to a safe and non-explosive illuminator was no use is found. The heavy oils find their to rid it of these very volatile oils. It is principal application in lubricating machin- probable that they did exist in nearly the ery, and large quantities are consumed for same form in the coal oils but had not been this purpose upon the Western railroads. skilfully eliminated at first. The heavier natural oils of Ohio, when washed clean from the sand that comes up with them, are also very well adapted for this use; but it is found advantageous to mix either the crude or manufactured article with an equal quantity of lard oil. The petroleum corrects the tendency of this to gum and chill, while it receives additional body from the lard oil. Another use for the heavy oils is for cleansing wool in the woollen factories, and where they have been tried for this purpose, they have been preferred to other oils. In currying leather, also, they are said to have proved a good substitute for fish oil. Experiments have been made with them in Ohio, for mixing But the reign of the coal oils for purposes paints, and the crude heavier kinds, as those of illumination was destined to be of short of Mecca, treated in the same manner as duration; for petroleum, or as it came to be linseed oil, boiling them with dryers, etc., called when refined for illuminating purposes, formed a good body, covered the wood well," kerosene oil," became so abundant in 1861 dried rapidly and perfectly, and formed a smooth, hard surface, retaining no odor. The great abundance of the supply of petroleum at the West induced some speculation as to the probability of the hydrocarbon oils being used for fuel for steamboats, locomotives, and wherever a highly concentrated, portable, and manageable fuel is required. For domestic uses, also, such as require a fire only a little while at a time, the coal oils were conveniently used in suitable stoves in the same manner that gas is applied to the same purpose. But experiments are wanting to establish the rate per gallon at The lighter coal oils were superior in many respects to most of the articles previously used for purposes of illumination. Their odor, though not very agreeable, was better than that of most of the sperm or lard oils, and the spots made by spilling them on articles of dress or furniture were removed with less difficulty than those of the fatty oils. They were also far less liable to explosion than the so-called "burning fluids," which were previously in very general use, but were constantly producing terrible accidents and loss of life. They were, if burned in properly-constructed lamps, much less disagreeable and liable to smoke than camphene. and 1862, and received such an extensive development, that the distillation of oil from coals, both for illuminating and lubricating purposes almost ceased after 1863. An effort was, indeed, made in 1863 and 1864 to distil these oils on a large scale from the bituminous shales of Kentucky; but though the material could be had at the cost of breaking it up, and the process of distillation was very simple, the flowing wells of Western Pennsylvania, and West Virginia, furnished crude petroleum so cheaply that this undertaking proved unprofitable. CHAPTER XII. PETROLEUM, OR ROCK OIL. THE occurrence of an oily fluid oozing in some regions from the surface of the earth, coming out with the springs of water, and forming a layer upon its surface, has been noticed from ancient times, and the oil has been collected by excavating pits and canals, and also by sinking deep wells. Bakoo, a town on the west side of the Caspian Sea in Georgia, has long been celebrated for its springs of a very pure variety of petroleum or naphtha, and the annual value of this product, according to M. Abich, is about 3,000,000 francs, and might easily be made as large again. Over a tract about 25 miles long and half a mile wide, the strata, which are chiefly argillaceous sandstones of loose texture, belonging to the medial tertiary formation, are saturated with the oil, and hold it like a sponge. To collect it large open wells are sunk to the depth of 16 to 20 feet, and in these the oil gathers and is occasionally taken out. That obtained near the centre of the tract is clear, slightly yellow, like Sauterne wine, and as pure as distilled oil. Toward the margins of the tract the oil is more colored, first a yellowish green, then reddish brown. In the environs of Bakoo are hills of volcanic rocks through which bituminous springs flow out. Jets of carburetted hydrogen are common in the district, and salt, which is almost always found with petroleum springs, abounds in the neighborhood. Another famous locality of natural oils is in Burmah, on the banks of the Irrawaddy, near Prome. Fifty years ago it was reported there were about 520 wells in this region, and the oil from them was used for the supply of the whole empire and many parts of India. The town of Rainanghong is the centre of the oil district, and its inhabitants are chiefly employed in manufacturing earthen jars for the oil, immense numbers of which are stacked in pyramids outside the! town, like shot in an arsenal. The formation containing the oil consists of sandy clays resting on sandstones and slates. The lowest bed reached by the open wells, which are sometimes 60 feet deep, is a pale blue argillaceous slate. Under this is said to be coal (tertiary?) The oil drips from the slates into the wells, and is collected as at Bakoo. The annual product is variously stated at 412,000 hogsheads, and at 8,000,000 pounds. The Burmese petroleum has recently been imported into Great Britain, and is employed at the great candle manufactory of Messrs. Price & Co., at Belmont and Sherwood. It is described as a semi-fluid naphtha, about the consistence of goose grease, of a greenish brown color, and a peculiar, but not disagreeable odor. It is used by the natives, in the condition in which they obtain it, as a lamp-fuel, as a preservative of timber against insects, and as a mediciné. It is imported in hermetically closed metallic tanks, to prevent the loss of any of its constituents by evaporation. At the works it is distilled first with steam under ordinary pressure, and then by steam at successively increasing temperatures, with the following results :— Distillate very small in quantity. Containing paraffine, but still fluid at 32°. 11 Pitchy matters. 4 Product which solidifies on cooling, and may be submitted to pressure. Residue of coke, and a little earthy matter in the still. Nearly all the paraffine may be separated | men are met with flowing up through fissures from the distillates by exposing these to freezing mixtures; and the total product of this solid hydrocarbon is estimated at 10 or 11 per cent. in the rocks and spreading over the surface in a tarry incrustation, which sometimes solidifies on cooling. In the island of Trinidad, three fourths of a mile back from the Many other localities might be named coast, is a lake called the Tar Lake, a mile which furnish the natural oils upon a less and a half in circumference, apparently filled extensive scale, as in Italy, France, and Switz- with impure petroleum and asphaltum. The erland. In Cuba impure varieties of bitu- | latter, more or less charged in its numerous cavities with liquid bitumen, forms a solid crust around the margin of the lake, and in the centre the materials appear to be in a liquid boiling condition. The varieties contain more or less oil, and methods have been devised of extracting this; but the chief useful application of the material seems to be for coating the timbers of ships to protect them from decay. By the patented process of Messrs. Atwood of New York, the crude tar of this locality having been twice subjected to distillation, and treated with sulphuric acid and afterward with an alkali, as in the method of purifying the coal oils, is then further purified by the use of permanganite of soda or of potash. Being again distilled it yields an oil of specific gravity 0.900, which is fluid at 32° F., and boils at 600° F. lighting the street lamps in the future cities of Ohio." Several coal-beds were penetrated in sinking these wells. In north-western Pennsylvania the existence of oil in the soil along the valleys of some of the streams was known to the early settlers. One stream, in consequence of its appearance in the banks, was called Oil Creek. In other localities also it was noticed, and similar occurrences of oil were observed at some places in western Virginia and eastern Kentucky. At Tarentum above Pittsburg, oil was obtained by boring about the year 1845. Two springs were opened in boring for salt, and they have continued to yield small quantities of oil, sometimes a barrel a day. This has been used only for medicinal purposes. On Oil Creek two localities were especially noted, one close to the northern line of Venango county, half a mile below the village of Titusville, and one 14 miles further down the stream, a mile above its entrance into the Alleghany river. All the way below the upper locality through the narrow valley of the creek are ancient pits covering acres of ground, once dug and used for collecting oil after the method now practised in Asia. Cleared from the mud and rubbish with which they are mostly filled, some of them are found to be supported at the sides with logs notched at the ends as if done by whites, and it has been supposed by some that this is the work of the French who occupied that region the first half of the last century. Others think the Indians dug the pits, and in proof of this they cite the account given by Day, in his "History of Pennsylvania," of the use of the oil by the Seneca Indians as an unguent and in their religious worship. They mixed with it their paint with which they anointed themselves. for war; and on occasions of their most important assemblages, as was graphically described by the commandant of Fort Duquesne in a letter to General Montcalm, they set fire to the scum of oil which had collected on the surface of the water, and at sight of the flames gave forth triumphant shouts which made the hills re-echo again. In this ceremony the commandant thought he saw revived the ancient fire worship, such as was once practised in Bakoo, the sacred city of the Guebres or Fire Worshippers. In the United States the existence of petroleum has long been known, and the article has been collected and sold for medicinal purposes; chiefly for an external application, though sometimes administered internally. It was formerly procured by the Seneca Indians in western New York and Pennsylvania, and was hence known as Seneca or Genesee oil. At various places it was recognized along a belt of country passing from this portion of New York across the north-west part of Pennsylvania into Ohio. In the last-named state it was obtained in such quantity in the year 1819, by means of wells sunk for salt water, that it is a little remarkable the value of the material was not then appreciated, and the means perceived of obtaining it to any amount. The following description of the operations connected with the salt borings then in progress on the Little Muskingum, in the south-western part of the state, written in 1819, was first published in the American Journal of Science in 1826: "They have sunk two wells which are now more than 400 feet in depth; one of them affords a very strong and pure water, but not in great quantity. The other discharges such vast quantities of petroleum, or as it is vulgarly called, 'Seneka oil,' and besides is subject to such tremendous explosions of gas, as to force out all the water and afford nothing but gas for several days, that they make but little or no salt. Never theless, the petroleum affords considerable profit, and is beginning to be in demand for The old maps of this portion of Pennsyllamps in workshops and manufactories. It vania indicate several places in Venango and affords a clear bright light, when burnt in Crawford counties where oil springs had been this way, and will be a valuable article for | noted by the early settlers. They made some * use of the oil, collecting it by spreading a leghany river, and up the French Creek woollen cloth upon the pools of water below above Franklin. The summer of 1860 witthe springs, and when the cloth was satu- nessed unwonted activity and enterprise in rated with the oil wringing it out into vessels. this hitherto quiet portion of the state, where The two springs referred to on Oil Creek the population had before known no other furnished small quantities of oil as it was re- pursuits than farming and lumbering. Every quired, and from a third, twelve miles below | farm along the deep, narrow valleys, suddenTitusville in the middle of the creek, the own-ly acquired an extraordinary value, and in er has procured 20 barrels or more of oil in the vicinity of the most successful wells vila year. In 1854 Messrs Eveleth and Bissell lages sprung up as in California during the of New York purchased the upper spring, gold excitement, and new branches of manuand leased mineral rights over a portion of facture were all at once introduced for supthe valley. They then obtained from Prof. plying to the oil men the barrels required B. Silliman, jr., of New Haven a report upon for the oil and the tools employed in boring the qualities of the oil, and in 1855 organ- the wells. From Titusville to the mouth of ized a company in New York called the Oil Creek, about 15 miles, the derricks of the Pennsylvania Rock Oil Company," to en- well borers were every where seen. On the gage in its exploration. The same year a Alleghany river the number below Tidioute new company under the same name, formed in Warren county, south into Venango counin New Haven and organized under the laws ty, showed that this portion of the district of Connecticut, succeeded to the rights of was especially productive, and the same the old company; but for two years they might be said of the vicinity of the town made no progress in developing the re- of Franklin, both up the Alleghany river and sources of the property they had acquired. French Creek. The wells had amounted to In December, 1857, they concluded an agree- several hundred, or according to one pubment with Messrs. Bowditch and Drake of lished statement, to full 2000 in number beNew Haven to undertake the search for oil. fore the close of the year, and from an estiTo the enterprise of Col. E. L. Drake, who mate published in the Venango Spectator, removed to Titusville and prosecuted the (Franklin) 74 of these on the 21st of Nobusiness in the face of serious obstacles, the vember were producing the following daily region is indebted for the important results yield :— which followed. After a well had been sunk and curbed near the spring, ten feet square and sixteen feet deep, boring was commenced in the spring of 1859, and ́ on the 26th of August, at the depth of seventyone feet, the drill suddenly sank four inches, and when taken out the oil rose within five inches of the surface. At first a small pump The capacity of the barrel is 40 gallons, and threw up about 400 gallons daily. By in- at the low estimate of only 20 cents the galtroducing a larger one the flow was increased lon the total value of the daily product is to 1000 gallons in the same time. Though not far from $10,000. The depth of the the pumping was continued by steam power wells is in a few instances less than 100 feet. for months no diminution was experienced The shallowest one reported, belonging to in the flow. The success of this enterprise the Tidioute Island Oil Company, was 67 produced great excitement, and the lands up-feet deep, and its product was 30 barrels a on the creek were soon leased to parties, who undertook to bore for oil for a certain share of the product, sometimes advancing besides a moderate sum to the owner. No. of wells. On Oil Creek,. Total,... 15 3 3 74 .. Prod. bbls. 485 .442 139 64 35 1165 day. In general the depth is from 180 to 280 feet; one well in Franklin is 502 feet in depth, and one on Oil Creek 425 feet. The deepest wells are not the most productive, and the fact of their being extended beyond the ordinary depths may generally be considered an evidence of their failure to produce much oil. There are exceptions, however, to this, one of the deepest wells, that of Hoover and Stewart, three miles below Franklin, producing largely of excellent oil. |