108 NATURE AND OEIGIN OF PETROLEUM. [Feb. 5,. 



lation was conducted in a common tubulated glass retort with a ther- 

 mometer introduced into the tubulure in such a manner as to indicate 

 the temperature at which the condensing vapor passed over. This 

 was the first time I had ever distilled these oils in such an apparatus, 

 and some of the results observed were exceedingly interesting. The 

 crude oils contained a little water, as all petroleums do, which came 

 over with the light distillate, at or below ioo° C. As the boiling 

 point of the oil and the temperature of the condensing vapor arose, 

 at i2o°-i4o° C, water again appeared. The two portions of 

 water distilled over at temperatures separated by at least 30° C. 

 The last portion appeared, in part, as an emulsion that collected 

 in white drops upon the neck of the retort, and, gathering, ran 

 through the condenser to the receiver, where it fell through the 

 column of oil and collected as water at the bottom of the receiver. 

 On standing twelve hours, small spots and patches in the neck of the- 

 retort appeared of a purple color, and a deposit that resembled argol 

 appeared as a precipitate in small quantity at the point of contact 

 between the oil and water in the receiver. While an appreciable 

 amount of this precipitate appeared in the distillate from the black 

 oil, only a trace was present in the distillates from the oils from the 

 Pico and Wheeler's Canons. With sulphuric acid, followed by so- 

 dium hydrate, this precipitate gave a qualitative reaction for one of 

 the esters of the pyridin bases ; that is to say, dilute sulphuric acid 

 dissolved a part of it, leaving a purple residue, and from the sul- 

 phuric acid solution sodium hydrate precipitated white flakes hav- 

 ing the odor of pyridin. The distillates also gave the usual reac- 

 tion for these esters in small quantities. Fractionated in a bulb ap- 

 paratus with beads, the distillate from black oil has yielded " heaps" 

 corresponding to the boiling points of the benzoles and naphthenes. 

 This work is still incomplete. 



The facts of greatest interest, however, in reference to these oils, 

 that this latest work has demonstrated, relates to their sulphur 

 content. An observation that I made many years ago has been 

 often quoted, that in one instance I distilled a California oil that 

 contained so much sulphur that the sulphur condensed in the neck, 

 of the retort. As I remember the experiment, the amount of oil 

 distilled was about half a litre ; and a button of pure sulphur con- 

 densed in the neck of the retort at least half a centimeter in diameter. 

 This oil was from the Canada Larga spring, which issues from strata 

 containing a large amount of free sulphur. I have never seen an- 



