518 TRANSACTION'S OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE, 



is found in all, being most abundant in those strata which coi> 

 tain the largest amount of organic matter stored up. The bitu- 

 men with which these strata are charged, becomes transformed, 

 by some chemical change in the bowels of the earth, into petro- 

 leum. - As to the use of coal oil for generating steam, it has been 

 found by experiment, before the British Admiralty Board, and 

 also by the experiments of Prof. Johnson, that with the present 

 fireplaces and boilers, the bitumen in coal adds very little to its 

 effectiveness, so that the best coal for the purpose is that which 

 contains the largest amount of carbon and the least bitumen. 



The Chairman. — Oil, in my opinion, at five cents per pound, 

 will cost ten times as much as coal. Its expensiveness will 

 almost equal that of electricity, in the consumption of zinc. It 

 is also very dangerous, unless it has been purified. 



Prof. Seely. — I had occasion some time ago to examine the 

 question of the desirability of using coal oil as a fuel for the air 

 engine, using the products of combustion, and I came to the con- 

 clusion, upon theoretical grounds as well as from a little prac- 

 tice, that coal oil at ten cents per gallon, when burned in that 

 most economical way, would furnish power as cheap as coal at 

 six dollars per ton, burned under a steam boiler. A pound of 

 hydrogen will give out three times as much heat as a pound 

 of carbon. It is to be regretted that we do not yet know 

 what coal oils are chemically. I am satisfied that they differ 

 from the oils extracted from coal tar, 'These have long since 

 been thoroughly investiga.ted, and the different substances 

 they contain carefully separated and examined. Many of these 

 have proved of great value. In purifying coal oils, it is consid- 

 ered desirable to deodorize them ; but as soon as we deodorize 

 ■■such an oil we shall make another thing of it, and ii may not be 

 what we want. The odor belongs to the substance. There have 

 been various processes for modifying the odor, among which is 

 stirring chloride of lime into the oil. This has the effect, but it 

 generates hydrochlo-iic a-cid, which is objectionable for several 

 reasons, therefore chloride of lime should not be used. 



Mr. C. W. Smith. — Many substances are dangerous if impro- 

 perly used, and indeed almost any substance may be so used as 

 to be dangerous. I am convinced that coal oil can be economi- 

 cally used for generating steam for marine engines, not only from 

 its comparative cheapness, but because it occupies so much less 

 room than coal, requiring no more than one-fourth the space. Of 



