82 ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 
stages of possible change between petroleum and Albertite, at Dover 
in Westmorland county, where the Albert shales occur, is interesting 
as seeming to show that an analogous conversion of liquid into solid 
hydrocarbons is still going on in the district. It is also important to 
note in this connection that not only is maltha now known to be a step 
in the transformation of petroleum into asphalt, but that, as shown 
by the experiments of Professor Day, of the U. 8. Geological Survey, — 
asphalt may be artificially manufactured from a combination of herrings 
with saw dust and pitch pine, the product after distillation in a retort 
being almost exactly similar to Gilsonite, the nearest mineral approach 
to Albertite. 
The comparison last referred to is also very suggestive as to the 
probable source of the hydrocarbons of Albert county. It will be remem- 
bered that portions of the so-called Albert shales abound in the remains 
of fossil fishes, and that these were also far more abundant in connec- 
tion with the great vein of the Albert mine than elsewhere; while on 
the contrary, in connection with all the workings of the mine, and in 
the explorations of the shale deposits throughout Albert and. Westmor- 
land counties, the general absence of vegetable remains is very 
noticeable. That the Albertite should have come from beneath the 
shales, as thought probable by Prof. Hind, might be considered as 
probable were there beneath them any formations containing any con- 
siderable quantity of bituminous matter, or any from which it could 
have been expelled, but there is no reason to suppose that such is the 
case. The rocks supposed to be Devonian by Prof. Hind are now 
known to be at least as old as Cambrian, and though the mere fact of 
their being metamorphic might not, in view of the vccurrence of 
asphalt in Cuba in rocks of this character, preclude the possibility of such 
materials having been derived therefrom, it seems unreasonable to adopt 
such a view in the face of the numerous facts which point in a different 
direction. Accepting the bituminous shales and their contained fishes 
as the primary source of the hydrocarbons, there is no difficulty in 
understanding all the several modes of occurrence and association 
which have been herein described. They will simply be the result of 
the wide diffusion of a liquid among rocks whose disturbed condition 
gave every facility for movements of this kind, the conversion into 
Albertite being the result of chemical changes probably of later and 
very different periods of origination. It may even be that while large 
portions of the oil, as the result of exposure or other unknown causes, 
underwent the change referred to, other portions, protected by cappings 
of newer rocks, may still remain in an unaltered condition and consti- 
tute an available source of oil-supply. The results of boring operations 

