Evening star., 1933-02-11
CHEMISTS MAKE OIL IN A WEEK.
SAVING ONE MILLION CENTURIES
Petroleum Produced in Lab.
oratory of Geological
Survey Here.
Accidental Discovery of Curl.
GUS Substance in Sea
Leads to Test.
BY THOMAS r. HENRY.

A substance which apparently Is Pc
troleum has been produced in a week
in the chemical laboratory of the Geo.
logical Survey here. The natural for
nation Of petroleum, according to ge-
ologists. requires about 100000, 900
years.
1t appears, specifically at least, that
the Government chemists have short
circuited millions of years in the pro-
duction Of this complex oil which has
such vital place in civilization.
The work is reported in the current
issue of the American Chemical So
ciety Journal by DR.. Roger C. Wells,
chief chemist Of the Geological Sur
vey, and e. Theodore Erickson of the
survey staff. It all came from the
accidental discovery of a curious sub
coast Of Admiralty Island, Alaska, near
ring is known to have sunk. 20 or 80
years ago. The boat long ago has
broken up and the herring long since
diSintegrated. The substance sent to
the Geological Survey for analysis, it
turned out, was due to the action of
sea water on organic oils from the de-
composed herring.
Nothing like this substance ever had
been seen before. It was white, greasy,
of about the consistency of hard soap
and with very slightly higher spe-
cific gravity than water. It seems to
be the mother substance, at least one
Of them, from which petroleum is pro-
duced, and which results from the ac-
ton Of sea water on certain organic
materials in about score Of years.
Yields to Analysis.
Analysis showed it to be composed
of calcium and magnesium salts Of
two or three organic acids derived
originally from the bodies Of the her
ring. 1t has long been known that Pc
troleum is formed of organic acid de-
posits in sea water, which in some way
become tied in with mineral matter,
forming sediments.
After determining the chemical
makeup of the substance, the Geo.
logical Survey chemists subjected it
to heat Of $50 degrees for various pc
riods. At the end of seven days of
such intensive heating, having theo-
retically about the same effect as in
tensive pressure under the earth, they
obtained from the soap-like material
greenish, f1uorescent Oil which looked
just like petroleum, was slightly explo-
sive, and which carried a strong odor
of gasoline. It is considered very
close to petroleum, If not identical. To
determine the identity is a long, la
borious Job, since petroleum Is an ex-
tremely complex chemical substance.
It IS possible. however, that closer an
alysis will show considerable difference
between the product of a few days of
intensive heat treatment and millions
Of years of pressure. Besides, 1t was
pointed out, petroleum itself probably
varies slightly from place to place.
Very little of the original material
was received from which oil could be
obtained for experimentation.
The next logical step, it was pointed
out by Geological Survey chemists, is
to work out the way in which the cal
cium and magnesium salts of the or
ganic acids were formed in the sea.
1t may be possible to duplicate the
process in a brief period in the labo-
ratory, in which case the actual pro-
duction. Of petroleum from the raw