PETROLEUM 545 



menfc of the Ehine ; also in the Val de Travers, in Neocomian limestone. The bitu- 

 minous sand of Bechelsbronn, in Alsace, which is of tertiary age, is about 7 feet thick, 

 containing 2 per cent, of bitumen. Similar sands are found at Soultz-sous-Forets, 

 and Schwabs weilier, in the same country. At Lobsann, also, in Alsace, Daubr6e has 

 described a freshwater tertiary limestone, which contains 10, 12, and even at times 18 

 per cent, of bitumen. Similar deposits exist in Otago, N.Z. Bitumen also occurs in 

 sandstone in the Auvergne, in Central France. 



Bitumen is occasionally found in mineral veins, as, for instance, at Dannemora and 

 Filipstad, in Sweden, accompanying magnetite, and in the carboniferous limestone 

 at Staunton Harold, in Leicestershire, in small veins associated with galena, copper-, 

 and iron-pyrites. It also occurs in brown iron ores, at Markolden and Markolden- 

 dorf, near Hildesheim ; and at Elligser Brink, in Brunswick. An analogous mode 

 of occurrence is furnished by Hatchettine, or mineral tallow, a beautiful pearly- 

 white substance, almost identical with paraffin, which is found in the interior of 

 nodules of clay-ironstone in the neighbourhood of Merthyr Tydfil. Ozokerite is a 

 similar substance, of a darker colour, found in sandstones both in Scotland and in 

 Galicia and Moldavia. Idrialine is remarkable as being a hydrocarbon, containing 

 a minimum amount of hydrogen : it occurs in a bituminous schist, which contains 

 cinnabar, at the great quicksilver mine of Idria, in Carniola. A remarkable substance, 

 forming apparently a link between lignite and asphalt, has been described by Delesse. 

 It is a brownish-black rock, of a very compact texture, found at Promina, in Austria, 

 containing 59 per cent, of crystalline carbonate of lime, 9 per cent, of argillaceous 

 matter, and 32 per cent, of a combustible substance, which is fusible but almost 

 totally insoluble in benzine. When heated it gives off acid vapours, leaving only 3$ 

 per cent, of coke. See ASPHALT; BITUMEN ; OZOKERITE. 



The so-called Pyropissite of Kengott is another mineral intermediate in character 

 between lignite and bitumen. It is a dark yellowish-grey, or brown, earthy, and 

 friable substance, with a shining streak, of the specific gravity 0'9. When heated it 

 gives off a dense white smoke, and melts to a pitchy mass. A waxy substance of a 

 very complex composition may be extracted from it by digestion in ether, and Mar- 

 chand obtained 62 per cent, of paraffin from the natural mineral by dry distillation. 

 The principal localities are Gerstewitz near Weissenfels, and Helbra in Thuringia, 

 where it forms a layer of 3 J feet in thickness, immediately above a seam of brown coal. 



Dysodil is another bituminous mineral associated with brown coal, but this term 

 appears to be applied to two different substances : one being an infusorial earth satu- 

 rated with mineral tallow, found near Giessen, in Hesse-Darmstadt, while on the 

 lower Ehine the term is applied to a lamellar brown coal. See DYSODH,. 



Turba, a very light material, greyish or brownish in colour and felty in texture, 

 which ignites readily with a dense smoky flame, leaving the mass of the same dimen- 

 sions as before, occurs in abundance at Camamu, province of Bahia, Brazil. Hartt 

 (Hartt's ' Scientific Eesults of Agassiz's Journey to Brazil,' p. 262) states that it rests 

 in a basin of gneiss whence the tertiary clays have been swept away; hence it appears 

 to be of recent origin. In a section of 108 feet the turba intermingles with a series of 

 arenaceous and argillaceous sandstones, alternating with bituminous clay, lignite, shale, 

 and sometimes pure bitumen ; it usually rests on limestone, a conjunction peculiar to 

 petroleum and shales. Prof. Edwards considers the turba not a sub-aqueous deposit, 

 as it contains no diatoms, and its enclosed fossils are wood, a few leaves, and fibres 

 like fine roots. It has yielded from 50 to 100 gallons of oil per ton on distillation. 



The Eev. Mr. Clarke of Sydney, N. S. W. (' Jonrn. Geol. Society,' vol. xxii. p. 447), 

 speaks of the Bournda deposit near Capo Howe being probably of recent, origin. Like 

 the Brazilian deposit just described, this also consists of a series of clays and blackish 

 mud, alternating with lignite. It, too, has been formed in a lake near the sea-beach. 

 A white waxy substance like bog butter was found to the north of this last-described 

 deposit some years ago. It yielded on distillation 8'6 per cent, of crude oil, which 

 again yielded on subsequent distillations 35 per cent, of burning oil, lubricating oil, 

 and paraffin. 



Large deposits of petroleum and its associated minerals have been discovered along 

 the course of the chalk of North Germany, at its junctions with the sands which cap 

 it. Indications have been seen near Hamburg, Hesse-Darmstadt, Euttsdam, and 

 other places. On the banks of the Ehine a bed of Albertite is being worked for 

 oil-making; it is said to yield 120 gallons to the ton in laboratory experiments. 

 Principal Dawson now relegates Albertite from the class of gas-coals into that of the 

 petroleums. (See ' Aeadia,' 2nd ed.) See also ALBEBTITE. ' 



Springs of mineral oil, or liquid petroleum, are found in almost all localities where 

 bitumen or asphalt exists in quantity in the rocks ; many of these localities have been 

 known from time immemorial : such as, for instance, the Eangoon wells, and those of 



VOL. III. N N 



