1897.] ORIGIX OF PEXXSYLVAXIA PETROLEUM!. 113 



of menhaden oil soaps under pressure they made good kerosene and 

 actually sold the product — an achievement remarkable for the time 

 at which it was done and gratifying to us as the work of American 

 investigators and far in advance of any similar work abroad. The 

 work of the German chemist, Engler, is thus simply confirmatory, 

 and in extension, of what had been already done in this country. 



Concerning these theories of origin, it seems to me extremely 

 probable that the conditions required for the production of bitu- 

 mens by inorganic means must have occurred repeatedly in the 

 earth's crust, and that, therefore, bitumens have been formed by 

 such means. The evidence of the actual occurrence of bitumens 

 produced from inorganic sources is not complete, but in addition 

 to the bitumens occurring in trap rock in eastern New York and 

 Connecticut, it is well to call attention to the fact that water asso- 

 ciated with the Trinidad asphaltum has been shown by Mr. Clifford 

 Richardson to contain significant amounts of boracic acid com- 

 pounds, which is some evidence of volcanic origin. Again, bitu- 

 mens occur in the vein quartz of quicksilver deposits in various 

 parts of the world, and such occurrences are frequent in California. 



If we take into consideration the organic life available for yield- 

 ing petroleum, it seems easier to believe that the supply of oils 

 found in the Silurian limestones has come from the distillation of 

 fats associated with animal remains, than that they were derived 

 from vegetable matter. 



On the other hand, general opinion tends to associate the Penn- 

 sylvania oils with a vegetable source, and it is against this that I 

 wish to make a few suggestions, based upon the observations of Rev. 

 John N. MacGonigle, formerly a stratigrapher in the employ of the 

 Forest Oil Co. Mr. MacGonigle's opinion is that the Pennsylvania 

 oils were originally contained in the Silurian measures, as are the 

 Ohio oils, and that a redistillation, accompanied by a transfer to 

 rocks of the Devonian age, resulted in a change of the character of 

 the oils. 



In his own words, as written to me, ]\Ir. MacGonigle states : 



'^ It may be admitted that the marvelous deposits found in the 

 Trenton and Clinton limestones and widely diffused in the other 

 limestones and shales of the Silurian period are indigenous. It is 

 a well-known fact that the series constituting the Silurian age, as 

 the result of one of nature's wonderful convulsions, sweeps toward 

 the eastward under the Devonian and Carboniferous areas, forming 



