* Miscellanies. 195 
mately its height above the earth. If any such observations were 
made, it is to be hoped that they will be given to the public. 
E. C. Herrick, 
New Haven, Conn. 
23. Petroleum Oil Well.—About ten years since, whilst boring for 
salt water, near Burksville, Kentucky, after penetrating through solid 
rock upwards of two hundred feet, a fountain of pure oil was struck, 
which was thrown up more than twelveeet above the surface of the 
earth. Although in quantity somewhat abated after the discharge of 
the first few minutes, during which it was supposed to emit seventy 
five gallons a minute, it still continued to flow for several days sue- 
cessively. The well being on the margin and near the mouth of a 
small creek emptying into Cumberland river, the oil soon found its 
way thither, and for a long time covered its surface. Some gentle- 
men below applied a torch, when the surface of the river blazed, and 
the flames soon climbed the most elevated cliffs, and scorched the 
summit of the lofiiest trees. It ignites freely, and produces a flame 
as brilliant as gas. Its qualities were then unknown, but a quantity 
was barrelled, most of which soon leaked out. It is so penetrating 
as to be difficult to confine in a wooder vessel, and has so much gas 
as frequently to burst bottles when filled and tightly corked. Upon 
exposure to the air it assumes a. greenish hue. It is extremely vola- 
tile, has a strong, pungent, and indescribable smell, and tastes much 
like the heart of pitch pine. 
Fora short time after the discovery, a small quantity of the oil 
would flow whilst pumping the salt water, which led to the impression 
that it could always be drawn by pumping. But all subsequent at- 
tempts to obtain it, except by a spontaneous flow, have entirely failed. 
There have been two such flows within the two last years. The 
last commenced on the 4th of July last, and continued about six 
-_ weeks, during which time twenty barrels of oil were obtained. The 
oil and the salt water, with which it is invariably combined during 
these flows, are forced up by the gas, above two hundred feet, into 
the pump, and thence through the spout into a covered trough, 
where the water soon becomes disengaged and settles at the bottom, 
whilst the oil is readily skimmed from the surface. A rumbling noise 
resembling distant thunder, uniformly attends the flowing of the oil, 
whilst the gas which is then visible every day at the top of the pump, 
leads the passing stranger to inquire whether the well is on fire.—N. 
O. Bulletin. 
24, Fresh-water and Land Shells from the neighborhood of Chilli- 
cothe, Ohio. Presented to Yale College by A. Bourne, Esq., Civil 
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