340 



PROCEEDINGS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY. 



Virginia, Kentucky, and similar crude oils, is given b)' tlie lurger pro- 

 portions of the series of hydrocarbons CnH2n ^■Dd series poorer in hydro- 

 gen in the Canadian oil. This series begins in the fraction 196° in the 

 latter crude oil, much lower than in any of the other petroleums men- 

 tioned, and no doubt forms a much larger proportion of the crude oil. 

 Doubtless the same holds true of the series still poorer in hydrogen. As 

 shown in a former paper, the series C^Hgn does not appear in Pennsylvania 

 petroleum until the hydrocarbon Ci7H34 is reached; but in Canadian pe- 

 troleum the first hydrocarbon of this series is CuH22. In Ohio petroleum 

 the series begins with the hydrocarbon C12H24. 



Doubtless the changes in series in the crude oil are more gradual than 

 appears from our results. One distillation as conducted in a refinery 

 affords only a partial separation. But in long continued fractional sepa- 

 rations the tendency toward collection in heaps indicates an accumulation 

 of the hydrocarbons in the vicinity of their boiling points. The smaller 

 quantities which collect between are composed of mixtures of higher and 

 lower boiling hydrocarbons, and doubtless the larger heap is not entirely 

 free from higher and lower boiling constituents. Perhaps this causes a 

 balancing of molecular weights, but it is evident that the contaminating 

 higher and lower bodies are not sufficient in amounts to interfere with 

 determinations that establish the formula of the principal hydrocarbon. 



The following table gives the hydrocarbons separated from Canadian 

 petroleum, and the chlorides prepared from them, with their boiling 

 points and specific gravity : 



III. HYDROCARBONS IN SANTA BARBARA CRUDE OIL. 

 Composition of California Petroleum (continued). 



In a paper published two years ago,* allusion was made to a specimen 

 of peculiar heavy petroleum that we had received from Mr. J. B. Bard- 



* Tliese Proceedings, 36, 255. 



