Forty-fifth Annual Meeting. 21 



forms are simultaneously produced by synthetic processes, but the 

 same result is accomplished indirectly by first synthesizing the 

 inactive mixture, or compound, and then separating the compo- 

 nents by one of the methods already mentioned. 



When, however, we find in nature substances which show op- 

 tical activity we know that they must contain constituents which 

 are asymmetric in structure. In endeavoring to determine their 

 constitution the chemist, therefore, gains the distinct advantage of 

 leaving out of consideration all that vast array of substances which 

 are symmetrically built, and of being permitted to concentrate his 

 attention and efforts upon the relatively few possibilities of asym- 

 metric structure. 



But the chemist is not alone in the advantage thus gained. 

 From what has been said regarding synthesis from inactive mate- 

 rial, it follows that all theories accounting for the formation of pe- 

 troleum from inorganic material, and excluding the action of 

 optically active organic substances, must be rejected. 



But still another factor which must be considered by the geolo- 

 gist with reference to the origin of petroleum and other optically 

 active bitumens is that of temperature. All theories involving 

 violently energetic chemical reactions and the production of high 

 temperatures must likewise be rejected. 



Having thus limited the possibilities of petroleum formation, it 

 is well to inquire what sources remain which are capable, under 

 the conditions imposed, of supplying a sufficient amount of mate- 

 rial for the accumulation of the vast stores which are being un- 

 earthed, and also whether the study of the polarimetric data gives 

 promise of furnishing positive specific evidence as to the kind of 

 material from which petroleum has been derived. 



In answer to the first of these questions I quote from the report 

 of Professor Haworth :'" 



"Few people realize the vast amount of organic matter annually carried 

 down to the ocean by surface drainage. Vegetation covers practically the 

 entire dry-land area of the earth, and has done so throughout all geologic 

 time. Varying climatic conditions and other influences doubtless have made 

 a corresponding variation in the richness of organic materials in different 

 rock masses. But when all allowances are made for such variations, it re- 

 mains that the amount of organic matter thus entombed is and has been 

 enormously great. And such matter need not be confined to vegetation, 

 for our ocean water is teeming with animal life. Speaking broadly, it is 

 well known that animals subsist on vegetation, and that the constant addi- 

 tion of food matter to the ocean water, for the ocean fauna comes from 

 vegetation, as plants are the great agents for changing inorganic matter 



16. The University Geological Survey of Kansas, vol. IX, 194-195. 



