Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1877-05-17
H. B. PHlLLE0, Editor.
New Theory of the Origin of Petr0.
leum.

The origin of the immense quantities
of hydrucarbon oils which are found
saturating strata of sand-stones, or pent
up in cavities of the older rocks, or es-
Gaping 10 the surface and collecting upon
pools of water, has been the subject of
frequent discussion. The theory general
ly accepted, and indorsed by such names
as Hunt, Newberry and Silliman, is that
it is of organic origin, either vegetable or
mineral. 1t has even been suggested
that the bad smelling petroleum of Can
ada a haoSo owes its origin to dtcayed fish.
Journal of SefenceAa StArrH Hunt, l5mettcqn
pyroschists of Bosanquet belong to tie
Devonian series, and contain the remains
of land plants, so that partially de-
cayed vegetation may be supposed to
have been the source of the organic mat
ter which is intimately mingled with the
earthly base of the rocks: \ \ but in
the pyroschists of the Utica formation,
the chief organic remains TO be detected,
are graptolites, with few brachiOpods
and crustaceans.'
In view of these facts we are not little
surprised at the new and yet plausible
thecry advanced by the distinguished
Russian chemist, Mendeleieff, before a
meeting of the Chemical Society of St.
Petersburg. The appearance of oil on
the surface of the earth proves that it has
a tendency to rise through the various
strata of the earth, and this is no doubt
due to its being lighter than water, which,
being everywhere present, forces it up
ward. For this reason we are compelled
to suppose that it was formed lower down
in the earth than the places where it is
now found. Another reason for this be-
lief is that the sand stones, in which much
of this mineral oil is found, contain no
charred organized remains, which must
be present where the oil was produced,
if it be Of organic origin. Since petro.
leum is found in the Caucasus in Tertiary,
and in Pennsylvania in the Devonian
and Silurian, Its origin must have been
in the older rocks at a still greater depth.
But IN those ancient periods, like the
Silurian, not many organized beings
could have existed. Hence Mendelejef1
thinks that it is very improbable that Pc
troleum is the product of any decomposed
organic matter.
Mendeleieff starts with Laplace's theory
of the formation of the earth, applies
Dalton's law to the original gaseous con-
dition of the constituents of the earth, and
calculates the probable arrangement of the
metals in the earth from the density ofthe
globe and the vapor density of the ele-
ments. Starting with the assumption,
which is not improbable, that iron is the
most abundant of metals, since it is
present in large quantities in the sun and
in meteOrites, and admitting the existence
of carbon compounds of this metal, not
only will it be easy to explain the forma-
ton of petroleum, put one can understand
all the peculiarities of its occurrence in
thnsa nlares where the .earth's strata has
chains. Breaks made in this way per-
mitted the water to permeate to the car
bOnaceouS metals; and at The high tenn
perature, and under heavy pressure, it
acted upon them, forming oxides of the
metals and saturated hydrocarbons. The
latter rose as vapors to the higher strata,
where they were condensed, saturating the
porous sandstones, which are capable of
absorbing many oily products.
Many other phenomena OF nature are
explained by this theory of the formation
of petroleum, such as predominance on
the earth's surface of elements with small
atomic weights, the occurrence Of oil in
straight lines or arcs of huge circles, its
dependence upon volcanic action, which
has been noticed by Abich and others, the
magnetism OF the earth, and many other
natural phenomena.-Sctentafc american.