MABERY. — SULPHUR PETROLEUMS. 45 



been obtained, at least in part, in experiments with several hundred 

 barrels of oil, which must be performed with the aid of the appliances 

 in a refinery. On the other hand, an examination of the unstable sul- 

 phur oils for certain constituents can be carried on satisfactorily only 

 on a smaller scale, with laboratory appliances. 



The products which I obtained through the aid of Messrs. Samuel 

 Rogers & Co., of Toronto, and Mr. J. H. Fairbanks, of Petrolia, for 

 the study of Canadian petroleum, included a barrel of crude oil, con- 

 siderable quantities of the first distillate, naphtha distillate, and burn- 

 ing oil distillate, none of which had been further refined, besides 200 

 litres of tlioroughly washed sulphur oil from " sludge." The crude 

 oil was thick and nearly black in color ; it contained hydric sulphide 

 in small quantity, and some water, which was removed only after long 

 standing in intimate contact with fused calcic chloride, and even then 

 a small quantity appeared in the first distillate. A determination of 

 its specific gravity at 20° gave 0.8621. In a former determination 

 in another quantity of the crude oil we reported 0.8600.* Determi- 

 nations in other specimens gave the following results : — 



Oil Springs 0.8442 



0.8427 



" (gas oil) 0.8389 



Petrolia 0.8553 



These numbers are not essentially different from those reported in 

 other examinations of these oils. H. P. Brummel f gave as the 

 specific gravity of the Canadian oils 0.804 and 0.808, values which 

 must be accepted as only approximate, rather than as results of accu- 

 rate determinations. MarkownikofF and Ogloblin j referred to results 

 of Sainte Claire Deville, which gave 0.844 as the specific gravity of 

 Canadian oil, and 0.887 for Ohio oil. Reference to the original pub- 

 lication of Deville § shows that he obtained 0.870 as the specific 

 gravity of Petrolia oil, and 0.844 for oil from " Canada West " (Oil 

 Springs?). The numbers assigned by Redwood || to the oils at Petrolia 

 were 0.859-0.877, and to the oils from Oil Springs 0.844-0.854. As 

 Engler observed in the Alsace oils, it is possible that the specific 

 gravity diminishes with the depth of the well. 



* Amer. Chem. Journ., 1S94, p. 90. 



t Canadian Geological Report, 1888-89. 



t Ann. Chim. Pliys., [6.], II. 372. 



§ Comptes Rendus, LXVIH. 485. 



II Journ. Soc. Chem. Ind., 1887, p. 405. 



