718 



RUSSIA. 



those of iron and steel, from 18,093,000 to 16,- 

 102,000 rubles; those of lard, from 16,082,000 

 to 14,564,000 rubles. The imports of tea and 

 wines increased. 



Petroleum. Russian petroleum has driven the 

 American product out of the home market, 

 and is a dangerous competitor in central and 

 southern Europe. It yields an illuminating 

 oil that is claimed to be as good as the Ameri- 

 can when thoroughly refined. The residuum 

 is largely used as fuel on the Caspian Sea and 

 the Volga. Kerosene is retailed in St. Peters- 

 burg at two cents a pound. Russian petrole- 

 um is brought into Germany in tank-cars, and 

 is exempt from the duty that is levied on pe- 

 troleum-barrels. It is also brought into cen- 

 tral Europe by way of Fiume, Trieste, and 

 Genoa. The export of illuminating oils over 

 the European land frontier increased from 

 399,000 poods in 1883 (1 pood = 36 pounds) to 

 1,224,000 poods in 1884, that of purified lubri- 

 cating oil from 361,000 to 523,000 poods, while 

 that of raw lubricating oil decreased from 

 1,092,000 to 647,000 poods, and that of raw 

 naphtha from 195,000 to 2,000 poods. There 

 was an export of 1,400 poods of vaseline, paraf, 

 fine, etc., in 1884. The exports from Batoum- 

 Poti, and Novorossiski, in 1884, were as fol- 

 low : raw naphtha, 93,000 poods ; naphtha 

 refuse, 602,000 poods; illuminating oil, 4,617,- 

 000 poods; lubricating oil, 292,000 poods; 

 vaseline, 450,000 poods. The output of crude 

 naphtha increased from 25,000,000 poods in 

 1880 to 60,000,000 in 1883; that of manufact- 

 ured petroleum from 7,858,750 to 14,252,626 

 poods. The shipments of petroleum from 

 Baku in 1883 amounted to 11,843,964 poods; 

 of refuse, 17,421,910 poods ; of raw naphtha, 

 1,790,663 poods; of lubricating oil, 1,001,385 

 poods. The price of Russian petroleum in St. 

 Petersburg in August, 1884, was from 1*80 to 

 1'35 rubles per pood, that of Nobel's manu- 

 facture from 1-50 to T55 rubles, while Ameri- 

 can kerosene was quoted at 2'65 rubles. The 

 imports of illuminating oils, benzine, and pu- 

 rified naphtha, were 449,000 poods in 1883, 

 valued at 1,194,000 rubles, and in 1884 269,000 

 poods, valued at 449,000 rubles. 



There are 400 wells in the vicinity of Baku, 

 about half of which are worked. The oil-field 

 is not more than 3| miles square. It is sup- 

 posed that oil-wells underlie at least 1,000 or 

 1,200 square miles of the Apsheron Peninsula. 

 The yield of the flowing wells is enormous. 

 When not worked they are stopped with valves, 

 to prevent waste and damage. The oil spouts 

 up, when the cap of a covered well is removed, 

 in a steady column 100 feet high. In some the 

 pressure is 200 pounds to the square inch, and the 

 jet rises 300 feet. One of Nobel's wells yields 

 1,125,000 gallons a day whenever opened, and 

 some of the others are more productive. The 

 average depth of the wells has been increased 

 from 154 feet in 1874 to 450 feet in 1883. The 

 average level is lowered 56 feet for every 500,- 

 000,000,000 gallons' extracted, .to 1884 the 



production was 1,130.000 tons. In the United 

 States the production was about 3,000,000 tons, 

 and the price from $4 to $8 a ton, as compared 

 with 60 to 80 cents in Baku. In the Black 

 Town at Baku there are 200 refineries, not 

 more than sixty of which were in operation 

 in 1884. The lamp-oil manufactured in the 

 Nobel refineries is almost free from color and 

 odor, with a specific gravity of "821, and a 

 flashing-point of 86*6 Fahr. The crude pe- 

 troleum yields 27 per cent, of this quality of 

 oil, and 35 per cent, of a lower grade. The re- 

 siduum, called astatlci, has a specific gravity of 

 903. The crude oil differs from that of Penn- 

 sylvania in being practically free from the solid 

 hydrocarbons. Oil is produced on the island 

 of Tcheleken, on the opposite side of the Cas- 

 pian Sea, containing as much as 6 per cent, of 

 solid hydrocarbons. The lubricating oil ob- 

 tained from the Baku naphtha bears a tempera- 

 ture below zero without solidifying. In 1884 

 Nobel's factories turned out 157,100 tons of 

 kerosene, and the other refineries at Baku 

 84,000 tons. The domestic kerosene is pro- 

 tected in Russia by a duty of 6 cents a gallon, 

 increased 20 per cent, by the new tariff. Tested 

 in comparison with American illuminating oil, 

 it was found that the Russian oil was inferior 

 in illuminating power ; but the diminution of 

 light as the oil fell in the reservoir of the lamp 

 was less than with the American oil. Experi- 

 ments with astatki as fuel for steam-engines 

 show that 1 pound vaporizes 12 pounds of water, 

 and in a lately patented apparatus 14 pounds. 

 Its freedom from phosphorus and sulphur makes 

 it valuable for metallurgical purposes. It costs 

 in Baku 36 cents a ton. By a process of dis- 

 tillation 75 to 100 cubic feet of illuminating 

 gas, five times more powerful than coal-gas, 

 are obtained from a cubic foot of astatki, be- 

 sides benzol, anthracene, and naphthaline. It 

 has been adopted by the Government as fuel 

 for torpedo-boats. Petroleum, kerosene, and 

 astatki are shipped from Baku in bulk to the 

 Yolga, in small sailing vessels, and in tank-cars 

 over the Baku-Batoum Railroad. 



Nihilism. The revolutionary doctrines con- 

 tinue to spread in Russia, despite the success 

 of the police in bringing to punishment many 

 of the active and leading Nihilists. In March 

 about forty Nihilists were arrested in St. Pe- 

 tersburg. In consequence of the discovery of 

 Terrorist proclamations and explosives in the 

 lodging of a student in Dorpat, a few days 

 later, more arrests were made in St. Peters- 

 burg. In May, a sub-inspector of police was 

 shot dead at Kharkov while searching the 

 lodgings of a person with a false passport, in 

 whose possession were a secret printing-press, 

 explosives, and arms. Lissianski, the perpetra- 

 tor of the murder, was tried before a militi 

 court and condemned to death. A monster 

 trial began in Warsaw on Nov. 28. Amonj 

 the prisoners were Bardovski, a police jus- 

 tice; Ingelstrom, nephew of a Russian gener- 

 al j Sokolnicki, an artillery lieutenant : Luvy, 



