Cleveland morning leader. [volume] (Cleveland [Ohio]) 1854-1865, 1861-04-06
For the Leader.
OFiEIn Of CoaI OF.

OFigi1 Of Coai OIL
A geOlogist Of repute has started the some
what novel hypothesis that coal OF. is the
product Of coral which Aourished in the
waters of the Secondary ocean. Considered
as simple supposition, this theory may be
placed with thousand others which have
been born from the ever restless mind but
when put forth as q truth, established by
facts, its aspect is greatly changed. The on
| ly fact, aside from those Of a vegetative char
acter, which has been given to its support,
is, that corals have been found saturated
with oil. This amounts to nothing. have
seen clay, shale, and sandstone saturated
with oil. This proves, not that the oil origi-
mated in these rocks, but that they have i'm
bibed it from some external source.
The corals Of the early ages must have
been much fatter than those Of the present
tims, for it would be difficult to say how many
tons of coral it would require for pint of
oil The early coral must have been entire
ly different in habits from the present, for
they secretsd oil containing krsoSote which is
q deadly poison to animal life. So far as an
atomioal structure is concerned the ancient
and modern corals are generally alike. It
is objected that oil is found in localities where
coal does not occur, in fact in strata below
the coal, and hence cannot have originated
from coal. Granted. Like all other bless
ings it is widely distributed. The ell obtained
from distilling coal, and that obtained di-
rectly from the earth are essentially alike.
They resemble the product obtained by the
destructive distillation of wood. They all
contain numerous products which are only
found IN the resultant Of the destruction of
vegetable matter 5yheat, and many of which
are very deleterions to animal life. Rock
oil can no more originate in, or be secreted
by animal life than strychnine; nor can it
arise, by any possibility, from the decOmpO
sition Of animal matter.
In the distillation of wood, or coal, the
products vary with the temperature. This
fact fully accounts for the difference which
exists between coal oil and rock oil, and the
varieties of the latter. That the above
oils, that from the earth, and that obtained
from coal by actual distillatiOn, are 50 near
Iy, Ikea strong presumptive evidence of
their common origin.
It is not strange that oil is found in strata
below the coal, or distant from coal fields.
Distilled from coal beds by the intense heat
from below, It. would collect in fssures,
through which it would seek the lowest pos
sible level, and forced by the enormous
pressure it would flow along subterranean
water cOurses-sueh as are known to exist,
and where these formed basins or reservoirs,
it would collect in quantity.
It is not confined to the secondary or fos-
siliferOus rocks, but penetrates far beneath
them. Humboldt, in his South American
Travels, describes spring of rock oil, stu
ted near Cape de la Brea, which issues from
mica-slate, and covers the sea to great ex-
tent. page 49, Admittingathat the oil
must necessarily have nrisiaatAA IHhAre
fited by this fact as the coal theory Tor the
mica-Blate was deposited before living beings
were reeated on this planet.
The earth is honey -cOmbed with vents ana
caverns, and the raystAry is. not how the oil
became 50 generally diffused through all
strata, but why it was not even more uniYer-
sally dispersed from the parent coal beds /;
a suggestion answered by the necessarily
limited quantity of the material.
That these reservoirs Of oil can be ulti-
mstely drained there can be no doubt
Many wells have already failed, and wells
situated close together interfere BY dimin-
ishing each others product. The forces OF
production have ceased to act; the caVerns
of the earth, when once pumped dry can
never be re-flled. But it is warrantable
deduction that the deposits Of oil bear rela-
tion to the yastness of the coal deposits, and
consequently will not disappOint the Wis
ionists who fancy that it is inexhaustGSle'
at least when considered by finite compre-
hepsion. There may come time when
the coal beds will be exhausted, but the in
tsryal is beyond the ken of mani and 50
may come the time when q generous earth
will fail to yield US what is almost a neces-
atty of our existence-Light.
HUDSON TUTTLR-
WALNUT GRovz FAM, Berlin Heights u
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