PETROLEUM, OR ROCK OIL. 



C71 



recently declared that no illuminating oil com- 

 parable with that of the east has been, beyond 

 question, produced from the wells of that - 

 On the contrary, besides Prof. Silliman, Prof. 

 A. Iv. Eaton and other chemists have found the 

 California oil examined by them to be petrole- 

 um, and to yield fair percentages of both illumi- 

 nating and lubricating oils. The great evapora- 

 tion due to a hot climate would doubtless ren- 

 der the more surface oils of less value than such 

 as might be obtained by deep borings. The 

 question of value for distillation of the Califor- 

 nia asphaltum can be determined only by actual 

 experiment. 



As to the process of refining, it may be said 

 briefly that where this and the separation of the 

 products are effected in the same course, the 

 naphtha is first run off into one receptacle, and 

 the illuminating oil next conveyed into another, 

 while the heavier products which follow may 

 be discharged together into a third, or separated 

 into lighter and heavier lubricating oils. Hav- 

 ing been run into the large tanks intended to 

 receive it, the burning oil is purified by agitat- 

 ing successively with sulphuric acid, with 

 water, with alkali, and then with water again ; 

 and it is then by suitable treatment further 

 decolorized, and, as it 'is termed, feodorized 

 the latter expression, however, implying 

 chiefly the removal of odors due to foreign 

 admixtures remaining in the oil, and not 

 altogether of its own specific odor. It is 

 important that the oil should be wholly freed 

 from the chemicals employed in its purifica- 

 tion, as otherwise it is liable to grow darker, 

 and at the least to lose in market value, with 

 age. The heavier oil is sometimes by itself re- 

 distilled, yielding a further portion of burning 

 oil ; this latter is then often mixed Avith naph- 

 tha, producing a burning oil of inferior grade. 

 But whether redistilled or not, the heavy oils 

 being finally left to stand in vats, deposit in 

 solid form a considerable quantity of paraffine. 

 This, taken up from the vats, is freed from 

 intermixed oil by pressure, much in the same 

 manner in which the separation of the solid 

 from the fluid fats is carried on in case of lard, 

 tallow, &c. ; and the impure solid parafSne, as 

 thus procured, is subsequently remelted by 

 itself, and purified. The crude naphtha is also 

 commonly refined and deodorized. Within 

 the stills there remains at the close of the pro- 

 cess a dark, thick, tarry residuum, which still 

 contains paraffine ; or, if the process has been 

 carried to the extreme, as before shown, only 

 the hard cake or mass of coke, which is quite 

 worthless. (See PETKOLEUM, in the XEW AMEK- 

 ICAX CYCLOPEDIA.) 



"When the change from the distillation of 

 crude coal oil to. that of rock oil had once been 

 made, it soon became general, the very low 

 price at the time, at least in this country, of 

 the latter oil, crude, serving wholly to exclude 

 for the time, from competition with it, those 

 obtained from coal, asphaltum. &c. The works 

 of the Xew York Kerosene Oil Co., on Long 



Island, established for the refining of coal oil, 

 were among the first to be devoted to the work- 

 ing of the new material. 



In some cases, the heavy crude or natural 

 lubricating oils are not distilled, but are pu- 

 rified by applying heat and by the use of chem- 

 ical agents, the purpose of which is to re- 

 move from them the grit, &c., including some- 

 times certain impurities of a gummy character, 

 and which would tend to destroy their value as 

 lubricants. The same unfavorable effect, in- 

 deed, would be exerted by paraffine, if left in 

 very considerable quantity in the oils ; and this 

 must further be in part removed, as is accom- 

 plished by chilling the oils with ice, and then 

 pressing them through porous materials. The 

 city of Cleveland has thus far been one of the 

 chief centres of manufacture, from petroleum, 

 of lubricating oils. 



In connection with the attempts now being 

 made to prodnce many of the new dyes, hither- 

 to known as the " coal-tar colors," or at least 

 dyes closely resembling them, from petroleum, 

 it becomes a very important practical question 

 whether American rock oils, or at least some 

 varieties of them, do or do not contain as con- 

 stituents, the distinct chemical principles known 

 as benzole and toluole ; since it is from a combi- 

 nation of these, primarily, with nitrous acid, that 

 aniline, the basis of many of the most valuable 

 among the new dyes, is obtained. M. Schorlem- 

 mer has recently declared that in American petro- 

 leum he finds, to some extent, both benzole and 

 toluole ; but MM. Pelouze and Cahours, agreeing 

 with Mansfield and other early authorities, ex- 

 plicitly contradict this conclusion; and in the 

 views of the latter some chemists in Xew York 

 coincide. Finally, Messrs. De la Rue and Mul- 

 ler, for some time engaged in an examination 

 of the Rangoon petroleum, intimate that in it 

 they find not only the series of hydrides already 

 presented (see TABLE), but also the benzole se- 

 ries, as benzole (CisEL), toluole (Cu H=). &c. 

 In like manner it is still undecided whether pe- 

 troleum contains to some extent aniline itself 

 though this also is doubtful, or naphthaline, or 

 other constituents, light or heavy, which, for the 

 color-manufacture, may serve as equivalents for 

 the principles already named. (See AXILIXE 

 COLORS, in this volume.} 



Through a combination of causes, a great 

 and well-nigh unparalleled excitement lias 

 arisen in the money market, in connection 

 with the subjects of oil lands and prospects, 

 and with the value and transfers of property 

 of the various companies, established and 

 newly forming. 



According to statements in an editorial arti- 

 cle in the " Xew York World," of Jan. 11, 1865, 

 there were at that time in the city of Xew York 

 alone 112 petroleum companies (known) in ex- 

 istence and forming, their combined nominal 

 capital being as stated in the subjoined table, 

 which presents the known petroleum invest- 

 ments of the ten (in this respect) leading cities 

 of the United States : 



