Peckham.] 450 [September 1^. 



researches of Profs. Warren and Storer, They saponified Men- 

 haden Oil with lime and then distilled the lime soap.* Upon 

 rectifying the lighter portions of the crude distillate and subject- 

 ing it to the process of fractionation invented by Prof. Warren, 

 they obtained the identical hydrocarbons found by them in 

 Pennsylvania petroleum. Taken as a whole the distillate resem- 

 bled more nearl3^ Rangoon petroleum, which has been analyzed 

 by the same gentleman. 



The facts just mentioned when viewed b3' themselves, suggest 

 the theory that petroleum is the product of the distillation of 

 p^a-obituminous minerals by natural processes. Excepting in 

 the case of some of the lightest varieties, more properly termed 

 naphthas, I do not consider that there is any further evidence 

 to support such an hypothesis. The discovery of strata satu- 

 rated with petroleum or the products of its decomposition, while 

 those above and below do not contain a trace of it, is sufficient 

 in itself to refute such an opinion. 



The opinions entertained by M. Lesquereux when applied to 

 petroleums issuing from pahieozoic rocks, are perhaps as little 

 open to objection as any theor^^ of which I have spoken; but as 

 a formula applicable to all conditions under which petroleum 

 occurs, they cannot be maintained. Even when confined to the 

 application which he has made of them, I think they claim too 

 exclusivel}' a vegetable origin. It would be equally open to 

 objection to claim that those oils were without exception of ani- 

 mal origin. The differences between the animal and vegetable 

 life of a deep sea fauna, both in functional aucl elementary' or- 

 ganization, are too slight to admit of any nice theoretical dis- 

 tinctions being drawn respecting the products of their decompo- 

 sition. A mass of polypi undergoing decomposition upon a 

 beach would doubtless saturate the sand with carbonaceous 

 matter as readily as an equal bulk of algse. If petroleum were 

 invariably derived from marine algoe, we should expect to find it 

 identical in composition wherever found, as the conditions 

 favorable to their growth and their composition are in all cases 

 too nearly identical to admit of any marked variation in the 

 products of their decomposition. We should not therefore expect 

 to find hi one formation a very stable substance, and in another 

 ti'eatment as to yield similar results, as has been shown b}' the 



* Mem. Am. Acad. X. S. IX. 177. 



