1898.] DAY — AN ASPHALT RESEMBLING GILSONITE. 178 



dark red. At 340 the receiver was again changed, the thermome- 

 ter removed and the distillation continued until the temperature 

 was (at a guess) about 425 Centigrade. At this point the distilling 

 bulb cracked and the operation was stopped. On cooling, the con- 

 tents of the bulb became a black brittle solid, showing a very pro- 

 nounced resemblance to gilsonite in every way. The following are 

 its properties : Black glistening color, becoming brown on pulver- 

 izing, and slightly darker than gilsonite ; fracture conchoidal, en- 

 tirely soluble in carbon bisulphide ; ether dissolves 90.6 per cent.; 

 alcohol 66.3 per cent.; petroleum ether 61. i per cent. All these 

 solutions show greenish fluorescence, while the color by transmitted 

 light varies from yellow to reddish. 



As already stated, the distilling bulb cracked before I had de- 

 cided to stop the distillation, and the solid product being slightly 

 sticky to the touch, I distilled a second portion of oil, collecting the 

 same fractions as before, but continuing the heating longer. This 

 time I obtained a solid so like gilsonite that it was difficult to tell 

 which was which. A combustion of the first sample gave carbon, 

 87.5 per cent., and hydrogen, 7.7 per cent. A combustion of the 

 second sample gave carbon, 88.9 per cent., and hydrogen, 6.7 per 

 cent. The figures for Utah gilsonite are 88.3 for carbon and 9.9 

 for hydrogen. At the time (three years since) I made the analysis 

 of gilsonite nitrogen was not determined. Recently I have deter- 

 mined the nitrogen, and found it to be 1.96 per cent. Since the 

 carbon, hydrogen and sulphur figures added up to 99.5 one or all 

 of the three must have been high, and I am inclined to think that 

 it was the hydrogen, since I cannot now be sure that the gilsonite 

 sample was entirely dry. 



The agreement in properties and composition between the gilson- 

 ite and my product is much more perfect than it would have been 

 reasonable to expect at the outset of the experiment, particularly 

 when it is remembered that both are doubtless mixtures in them- 

 selves, and that certainly on distillation they yield highly compli- 

 cated mixtures of hydrocarbons. 



As the product under discussion was obtained only a few days 

 ago, I have not had time to carry the investigation further, but 

 enough has been done to show how a solid asphaltum may have been 

 formed in nature and to afford a rather satisfactory demonstration 

 of the correctness of views entertained by a number of scientists 

 who have formed their opinions largely on geological evidence and 

 .the study of natural occurrences. 



