Morning journal and courier., 1884-05-13
Petroleum and it's Uses.

Suggestions EminentIy Worthy of Gene raI COnside- atIon.
 l Petroleum has been for the last thirty years the chief source of light to the poorer classes in many countries, and it will yet compete with coal as 8 source of power on steamships and railways. Petroleum has, of course, been known since 8 very early period in the worlds history. The asphalt left by it's evaporation was the basis of the mortar with which Babylon and Nineveh were built, and although obscured by bad translation, it is frequently referred to in the Bible. We all know the immense supply which is fur l nished by the wells Of Pennsy lvania, and large quantities of it have been found in In dia, Burmah and the Caucasian lands about the Caspian sea- As to its origin, somebody advances some new theories. In preparing artificial petroleum. the remains of highly bi- luminous coal are found, and as coal has been produced by plant life it may bs argued plausibly that organic matters are the source of petroleum. But, on the other hand, it occurs in geological formations where organ
 ic life has only spsrsely existed and petro-
 leum, when examined by the microscope,
 never exhibits the least traces of organized
 structures. In the Caspian sea 1t Is found to
 have a comparatively modern o:igin in geo.
 logical sense, and in Pennsy lvania it is not
 met with until below the coal measures He
 does not claim that petroleum is cosmic, al-
 though it was found that the tail of the
 cent comet contained hydro -carbons very
 similar to petroleum. But in all petroleum
 wells water is also found In the depths of
 the earth there is 8 large abundance Of com
 pounds of the metals with carbon; when
 the crust of the earth becomes Assured, wa
 ter would reach these at 8 higher tempera-
 ha ifs naSSID0
 over to the metals, while the carbon and hy- drogen would unite to produce hydro car
 bons, the most common form of which IS
 petroleum. If this theory, then, be correct,
 s'while we find forests disappearing from the
 earth, and coal being exhausted without be- ing formed efresh, petroleum, whl 5h as fuel has about twice the value of coal, Is being constantly formed and deposited in natures reser voir. Y"
 Coming now to the economic uses of pc troleum, it may surprise people to know to how many industrial and other purposes it can be applied Psrafine IS manufactured in thousands of tons annually; there is an oil fitted for lubricating oils. and from the tars now rejected can be had those aniline colors, mauve and magenta, as also the red color of madder and indigo, the staple blue dye. At present, however. the great con- sumption of petroleum is for the production of light, and Dr. Playfair speaks of the in ventiveness shown in this regard in certain country districts of New England, where houses are lighted with beautiful white gas, which by simple contrivance is obtained from petroleum. Of the American product alone, India last year consumed 94, 900 tons, Japan 59, ,OOO, and China 82, 080 tons. A for midable competitor to America is, however, arising in Russia. The price of petroleum at the wells of the Caspian sea is less than that of water, but the difficulty so far has been to purify it cheaply and transport it economically. MT. Noble, however, who has become the Russian oil king, has built steam fleets to carry the finished oil, and these steamers are propelled by the refuse of the Installations American petroleum has by this means been driven out of Russia, and MT. Noble is besides not only pouring petro- leum through the Baltic into Germany, but is preparing to flood the Mediterranean and India through the Black sea, over the rail way connecting it with the Caspian. AL ready, in different parts of Russia, both steamboats and railway locomotives are driv- en by burning the waste of petroleum under the boilers, and, as Dr. Piayfair says, fit will certainly be 8 marvel, but one which may before long be realized, to see petro- leum fleet laden at Batoum with Caucasian oil pass through the Suez canal without the aid of coal"