Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-07-29
subjectee to in all ages of the earth's his

subjectee to in all ages of the earth's his
tory.
Petroleum IL Composed of Carbon.
All limestone rocks are formed under
water, and are mainly composed Of calcare-
ous shells, corals, encrinites, and fora
minifera-the latter similar to the fora
minifera of "Atlantic ooze" and of En-
microscope, the original connection of lime
stone with organic matter-its organic
parentage, SO to speak, and cousinship with
the animal and vegetable kingdoms-is con-
spicuouA When pure it contains II per-
cent of carbon.
Now petroleum consists largely of carbon,
its average composition being So Der cent
Of carbon and IL per cent of hydrogen,
and in the limestone rocks of the United
Kingdom alone there Is far larger accumu-
lation of carbon than in all the coal meas
ures the world contains. A range of lime
stone rock 100 miles in length by 10 miles
in width, and 1000 yards in depth, would
contain 743, 0oO, 600, 600 tons OF carbon, or
sufficient to provide carbon for 1915, 600, 600,
600 tons of petroleum. Deposits of oil
bearing shale have also limestone close at
hand; e. g., coral rag underlies Kimmeridge
CLAY, as 1t also underlies the famous black
shale in Kentucky, which is extraordinarily
rich in oil
Volcanic Action Had Hand In H.
As evidence of volcanic action in close
proximity to petroleum strata, the mud vol
canoes at Baku and in Burmah are described
and sulphur mine in Spain is mentioned
with which the writer is we'll acquainted), },
situated near an extinct volcano, where .
perpetual gas flame in neighboring chapel
and other symptoms indicate that petroleum
is not far off While engaged in studying
the geological conditions of this mine, the
author observed that DR.. Christof Bischoff
records in his writings that he had produced
sulphur In his own laboratory by passing
hot volcanic gases through chalk, which,
when expressed in a chemical formula,
leads at once to the postulate that in addi-
tion to sulphur, ethylene and all its homo
logues, which are the oils predominating at
Baku, would be produced by heating car
Donate of lime with sulphurous and sui
phureted hydrogen. So that these and all
their homologues. in fact petroleum in all
by the action Of volcanic gases on lime
stone.
But much Of the most abundant of the
volcanic gases appear at the surface as
steam, and petroleum seems to have been
more usually produced without sulphurous
acid, and with part of the sulphureted
hydrogen replaced by steam or peroxide of
hydrogen, which is the product that results
from the combination of sulphureted hydro
gen and sulphurous acid
The Same Forces Now at Work.
It is explained that these effects must
have occurred, not at periods of acute vol
capic eruptions, but in conditions which
may be, and have been, observed at the
present time, wherever there are active SOL
fataras or mud volcanoes at work. Descrip-
tions of the action of solfataras by the
late Sir Richard Burton and by British
paragraph from LyalPs principles of
Geology" in which he remarks of the mud
volcanoes at Girgenti, Sicily, that carbur-
eted hydrogen is discharged from them,
sometimes with great violence, that they
are known to have been casting out ater,
mixed with mud and bitumen, with the
same activity now as for the last 10
centuries.
Probably at all these solfatarss, if the
gases traverse limestone, fresh deposits of
oil-bearing strata are accommodating, and the
same volcanic action has been occurring
during the many successive geological
periods and millions of years; 50 that it is
difficult to conceive limits to the magnitude
of the stores of petroleum which may be
awaiting discovery in the subtersnean
depths.
Gypsum may also be an indication of oil
bearing strata, for the substitution in lime
stone of sulphuric tor carbonic acid can
only be accounted tor by the action of these
hot sulphurous gases Gypsum is found ex-
tensively in the petroleum districts of the
United States, and it underlies the rich salt
beds at Middlesboro, where, on being
pierced, it has given passage to oil gas, which
issues abundantly, mixed with brine, from q
oreat denth