136 DISCUSSION. [Feb. 5, 



advantage, than the study of the portions of petroleum with high 

 boiling points. There are immeasurably greater inducements for 

 the establishment of a petroleum laboratory for research on Ameri- 

 can petroleums than have led to the opening of similar laboratories 

 abroad. Such a laboratory, established solely for research, with 

 funds equivalent to twenty thousand dollars a year, and employing 

 a corps of ten competent research chemists, in five years would add 

 greatly to the honor of American research, and would establish the 

 composition of American petroleum. The lines of work that I 

 have in sight, and have started experimentally, would be sufficient 

 to occupy the attention of such a body of workers at least during 

 two years. I should be glad to resign a considerable portion of this 

 work to such a laboratory, or to any other competent investigators. 



Discussion. 



Dr. Sadtler : I would like to say that there are one or two 

 items referred to in Dr. Day's paper that may require a word. 

 A paper appeared six months ago in a German journal by a gentle- 

 man named Heusler, in which he reported upon the action of 

 aluminum chloride on the unsaturated series and perhaps on the 

 aromatic series of hydrocarbons ; and he claimed that by the heating 

 of such mixtures with aluminum chloride (of course anhydrous 

 aluminum chloride is meant), followed by distillation, carefully 

 excluding moisture, he could readily and completely clear it by 

 resinifying the unsaturated hydrocarbons and the aromatic hydro- 

 carbons ; any sulphur compounds could also be resinified ; and he 

 could then get by rectification absolutely pure hydrocarbons of the 

 paraffin series. 



That seemed to be a remarkable statement and one exciting 

 attention ; and a second article by the same author followed in the 

 next number of the journal, in which he theorized a great deal upon 

 Engler's menhaden oil products, and acknowledged having received 

 from Engler by personal gift some portions of the distillates which 

 he had obtained from these distillations of menhaden oil. He 

 claimed that Engler's oils, when submitted to his treatment with 

 aluminum chloride, had been purified and finally given the saturated 

 hydrocarbons in rather small amounts. He then proceeded to 

 theorize in what might hardly be called careful German style, but 



