Columbia Democrat and Bloomsburg general advertiser. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1850-1866, 1865-05-27
The History of Coal Oil and it's
Discovery.

y
When we speak of the discovery of
coal oil, in reference to late events, it must
not be mistaken for modern invention
The extraordinary attention drawn upon
It by the discovery of more abundant
supply, by artificial wells, since the Au-
gust Of 1850, has made its previous his
tory Of comparatively little interest to one
class oil minds, but, on the other hand has
invested that previous history, to phlo.
sophie eyes, with all the charm of an ar
geological Investigation. Did not the
builders of Babel use clay for bricks and
slime for mortar (Gen, XII, 81 II is
evident from an examination Of any Of
the ruins of Mesopotamia, that asphaltic
mortar was the bed into which their ala
baster wainScot pieces were set, and with
which their vaat terraces we're oompacted,
and probably their roofs protected the
use Of which so abtndantly, only facilitated
their destruction when the torch was at
last applied. The pitch used was made
by evaporalipg petroleum. That of Ba-
bylon we know wss obtained from the sui.
phur, brine, and oil springs of Is; the
products Of which are still sold in the vii
lage Of Hits. The story Of the catastro-
phe Of Sodon and Gomorrah, if not orig.
mated, was perpetuated by the vast accu.
mutations of rock oil in the centre OF the
Dead Sea, as on the surface OF Heated,
simmeriDg brine vat, y here it is hardened
by oxydation and drlted to the surround
ing shores A similar pheuomenon-a
lake Of pure pelrolcum-elicited the
amazement of the Spaniards who discov.
cred Trinidad.
Oil sp7inge, il Tact, have been known
and estce med, and worshipped, in every
age and many countries. Hetodotus de-
scFibes bi,umen spring in Zacynshus
Zantee, one Of the Iouian Islands, and
probably this spring sufficed the Egyptian
nation for their incessant religious use oi
petrocu for mummies, the embalmmen
of which is amusingly described in Hunts
Merchants Magazine for I662. The
"Greok fire" of more modern times was
probably compounded Of petroleum from
the Zauteau springs. Dioscorides tells Us
that rock Gil was collected in Sicily ant
burned in the lamps of Agrigentum. The
classic home of naphlha is Baku, hiSt
peninsula on the western shore of the Cas-
plan Sea, containing thirty five Villages
and twenty thousand souls, rocky and ster
lie, without an attractive spot, without ;
stream, wthou, one drop Of sweet waite
except what falls directly from the clouds
and without tree. But coal gas rise
everywhere from a soil saturated witt
naphtha ,and numerous volcanoes in actio
discharge volumes of null FROM the tim
of Zorcaster The naphlhn Of Baku ha
been sent all ever AsiG for the service {
the sacred fire Of the Parsees. The liqui
dreams spontaneously y hrough the surface
and rises wherever hole is bored. Bu
especially at Balegan, six miles from III
capital village, the sides Of tie lnountai
stream with black oils, which collect
reservoirs constructed in an unknown ell
oient time; while not far off, a spring I
, white oil gushes from the foot.
Upon their festival occasions the psopl
poar tyus of this oil over the surface {
the water in bay Of the Caspian, an
then set, as it were, earth, sea, and sky i
blaze of light. Sometimes far grande
; exhibitions take place naturally. In lei
a column Of flame, six hundred yards
diamete., broke out near Balegan, an
roared with boiling brine and calculate
rocks for eighteen days tog ther, until
I raised a mound nine hundred feet
height. Of course, the population use til
oil for light and fuel and coat their roo
with it. A clay pipe or hollow rec
> stepped in lime water, set upright in II
) door of dwelling, serves as a patural an
sufficient ga.-pipe The Ghebers bcttle
for foreign use the AtecShjahms fire wit
it their lme-klns and burn their dead =
No wonder the religious sentiment of or
ental mystiCs was ulrahced by such
land OF fire as Baku, where in the fssurt
Of the white and sulphurohs soil the napl
tha vapors flicker into fame where
> boiling lake is covered with fame devo
" of sensible heat where after the war
showers Of autumn the surrounding coul
try seems on fire; flames in enormoI
q volumes rolling along the mountains wi
incredible velocity, or standing still e
peetant When the October aud Noveu
Der moons light up with an azure tint Il
N entire west, and the Soghdo-ku, Mou
Paradise, the eastern buttress of the Ca