260 
Wallkill valley lies in an eroded anticlinal, with an ascending 
series of rocks toward the hills on either side. 
Pror. H. Wurtz inquired of Dr. Newberry, whether any 
recent information had come to him, in the course of his in- 
quiries into this subject, regarding the present state of the 
great Gas Well at West Bloomfield, New York. 
On receiving a negative reply, Prof. Wurtz, made the fol- 
lowing remarks : 
Nearly two years since, I gave to the Lyceum an account 
of a visit to the Ontario Co. (West Bloomfield) well, and of 
a scientific examination thereof. This paper, together with 
more extended reports and discussions drawn up by me about 
the same time, was widely circulated, and I am informed that 
a company was organized to convey the gas to towns through- 
out that section, but have no special information of their 
operations. ‘The flame from the five-inch bore-hole, 500 feet 
deep, was some 80 feet in height; and measurements of the 
flow of gas have been reported as high as five cubic feet per 
second, equal to 482,000 feet per day. My analyses showed 
823 vols. per cent. of marsh gas, and 10 per cent. of carbonic 
acid, with 3 per cent. of illuminating gases, proved by analysis 
to be probably of the olefine group. The illuminating power 
was found to be from 5 to 6 candles, and it was inferred that 
purification from carbonic acid would give a gas equal to that 
served out to us here in New York city. In heating power, 
I have calculated this daily flow to be equal to about 14 tons 
of anthracite, which, at say $6 per ton, amounts to the in- 
terest, at 6 per cent., on $511,000. This, up to the time of 
my visit, four years, and, for aught I know, up to the present 
time, six years, has run to waste. I would here say that it is 
not fair towards gaseous fuel to value it according to a com- 
parison of its absolute calorific capacity, with that of coal; 
for with the latter there are many causes of inevitable waste 
which can be entirely avoided with gas. Theoretically, one 
ton of anthracite is equal to about 30,000 feet of marsh gas; 
but practically, it will be found equal to less than 20,000 feet. 
