120 PECKHAM — TtlE GEXESIS OF BITUMENS. [April l, 



and the results were different. These results all pointed to an ex- 

 cess of carbon and more unstable compounds. On analysis these 

 crude oils were found to contain a large percentage of nitrogen as 

 compared with parafiftne petroleums.^ 



Canadian petroleum had been known to contain sulphur and to 

 be difficult to refine. When similar oils were obtained in large 

 quantities about 1885, in western Ohio, the sulphur petroleums 

 became a serious problem in the technology of bitumen, as it was 

 commercially desirable to treat them in the same manner as the pure 

 paraffine petroleums of Pennsylvania. During 1893 ^^^ 1S94, the 

 technology of California bitumens was again investigated. Destruc- 

 tive distillation when applied to these bitumens, resulted in the 

 production of a large volume of gas and asphaltic residuums with 

 a distillate consisting principally of unsaturated hydrocarbons. The 

 crude oils were found to be allied to the crude oils produced in the 

 Scotch shale-oil industry, as they contain a large percentage of 

 nitrogenous basic oils.^ 



There were thus established among North American bitumens 

 three great classes: those known as " Pennsylvania oils," consist- 

 ing of nearly pure paraffines, for which I have elsewhere proposed 

 the name of Warrenite ; those known as *' Lima oil," which together 

 with the Canadian oils contain a notable proportion of sulphur com- 

 pounds, for which I have proposed the name of Maberyite, and the 

 California oils, which occur in great variety and, while containing 

 sulphur, are characterized as nitrogen bitumens and for which I have 

 proposed the name of Venturaite. There is also a class of bitu- 

 mens not yet investigated that are found on the eastern slope of the 

 Rocky mountains from Mexico to the Arctic circle. In Europe, the 

 paraffine petroleums of Galicia appear to be quite distinct from the 

 bitumens of the Caspian sea. Technology has also divided bitu- 

 mens into two great classes that are largely determined by geologi- 

 cal occurrence. The great petroleum region of North America, 

 which is by far the most important in the world, lies in the great palae- 

 ozoic basin that surrounds the Cincinnati anticlinal ; while the 

 bitumens of California, the West Indies and Europe issue from 

 Tertiary rocks. These Tertiary bitumens are found in much greater 



^ S. F. Peckham, Reports Geol. Surv,, Califortiia, "Geology," ii, Appendix, 

 P- 73- 



2 S. F, Peckham, y^w. your. Set. (3), xlviii, 250. 



