The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1862-04-05

the hope of making their fortune.-
Before the close of 1850 there had beer
over a thousand wells bored, many Of
which were productive, bat large pro-
portion returned no hing. Some of the
Adventures have been very successful,
and have made large amounts of money
but, as in all commercial 8 fcvcrs," a
large number of persons have been u ter
ly impoverished by their specula ions.-
The mere sinking Il well by no means
insures u bountiful flow of oil. The
petroleum is stored in assures formed by
the upheaving of the carth's crust by
volcanic action and these assures are
perpendicular rather than horizontal in
tendency, as is proved by the fact that
at wells, but few rods apart, the oil is
struck " at very different Depths
The lowest parts of the assures contain
water, above which is the oil while in
the highest portion there is quantity
of gas. If, therefore, the we'll strikes
the assure at the lowest part, the water
will be forced up by the pressure of the
supernatant oil and gas. Persons ignor-
ant Of the formation sink well at ran
dom, and perhaps strike assure but
obtaining nothing but water, they ADAM
don the spot as wor bless, whereas after
removing the water by pumping large
quantity of oil hi ght be obtained.
In some localities in Ohio, as in the
case in Burnah, the ground is saturated
with the oil, and wells several feet in
diameter are dug, into which the oil
oozcs. Porous limestone, containing
petroleum, is found in some sec ions of
the West, and has been subjected to
distillation with profitable results.
In regard to the origin of petroleum,
scientific authorities differ; but the
theory most generally favored is, that it
is the product of the slow distillatlon, at
low tempera ures, of organic matter in
the Inferior of the earth the vapors
being condensed in the previously
mentioned assures and the surrounding
soil. The lake of Trinidad and the
bituminous matter of the Dead Sea may
also be referred to similar source
But for how many centuries must this
opera ion have been going on to have
effected such enormous results
Of the many uses to which petroleum
and its derivatives are applied, that of
illumination is the most important; and
the process of refining is exceedingly
simple. The crude matcrla! is put into
large iron retort, conncc ed with a
coil of iron pipes, surrounded by cold
water, called The condenser. Heat is
applied to the rotor, and from the open
extremity of the condenser, a ligh. col
ored liquid of Il strong odor soon flows.
This is paph ha, and is very volatile and
very explosive. Some roiiners mix it
with the burning oil, and numerous
accidents have resulted from such
mcrccnary indiscretion. 1t is usually
run into a separate tank. After the
naphtha has passed over, the oil used
for illumination distills off. Steam is
now forced into the rotor, and the heavy
lubricating oil driven over. There now
remains black, oily, tarry matter,
some ines used to grease heavy macln-
cry, and il black coke, employed as fuel
There are, therefore five substances
separated in this operation, but only
he first three are are of any economic
Importance.
The naphtlIa is used as substitute
for turpentine in pants, or by repeated
Installations the benzole is separated
from it and employed to remove spots
from fabrics. This, however, is rather
drug in the hands of the refner.
The burning oil, as it comes from the
retort, is of yellow color, and in order
to remove this, it is placed in large
lead-lincd cistern, and agiated with
about ten per cent of sulphurc acid
After the acid and the impurities have
subsidized, the oil is drawn off mo
another tank and agita;cd with four per
cent of soda I've. This last operation is
to remove any acid remaining with the
oil, and also to extract the residue of
the coloring matter. In fact it is some-
times employed alone and very good
oil obtained. The oil is now agita.ed
with water to remove the soda lye, and
is then ready for consumption. The
colorlcss oil is by no means the most
economical, but on the contrary more
light is obtained from the ycllcw article.
The heavy oil is cooled down to 30
deg. Fab. when the Paraffne crystalli-
yes out, and is separated from the oil by
pressing and by alternate agitation, in a
melted sac with sulphuric acid and
and soda lye. 1t is then nodded into
candles. 1t is curious Act that the
composition of paraffine and good coal
gas is exactly the same.
In Egypt a substance derived from
petroleum was used in embalming bodies;
and in Persia and the neighboring coun-
tries asphalium is used to cover the
roofs of the houses and to coat the boats.
In France asphaltic payements have been
successful in several cities, and for the
protection of stone no material is better
adapted Mixed with grease the Trini-
dad asphaltum is applied to the sides of
vessels, to prevent the borings of the
teredo, and with quick lime it affords
an excellent disinfectant. Among the
products of the distllation of petroleum
are daphthaline and kerosolene. The
former is the substance from which is
obtained aniline, the base of the bcauti-
ful colors, mauve, magenta and solferino.
The latter has been proposed as a sub