GAS SPRINGS. 131 



At Van Buren Harbour, on Lake Erie, four miles from Fredonia, bubbles of inflammable 

 gas may be seen rising through the water when the lake is calm, a rod or two from the shore. 

 The same thing is also observed for three miles northeast of Portland Harbour, and at BufRnir- 

 ton's well. The light-house at the former place is illuminated with this gas, which for that 

 pvirpose is brought from the margin of a small stream about half a mile distant. 



In the town of Sheridan, six and a half miles from Fredonia, the same gas is abundantly- 

 evolved in various places. And again on the west branch of Canadawa creek, four miles south- 

 east of that village, the carburetted hydrogen rises in considerable quantity through a spring 

 of pure water in a marsh. This gas, when collected and forced through a small orifice, bums 

 with a bluish white flame. 



The evolutions of this gas are not confined to the localities enumerated ; but are elsewhere 

 of frequent occurrence. Sometimes also the escape of the carburetted hydrogen is accom- 

 panied with petroleum, which forms a pellicle on the surface of the water. 



In Cattaraugus County, Mr. Hall states that carburetted hydrogen gas escapes from 

 almost all the waters, whether stagnant or otherwise. It is evolved in small quantities at the 

 Oil Spring in Freedom, but it will not sustain a constant flame. 



To this account of it may be added, that carburetted hydrogen rises through several brine 

 springs, as at Clyde in Wayne County ; in the valley of Elk creek, three and a half miles 

 from the village of Delhi, Delaware County ; and at La Grange, in Steuben County. 



Origin of the Carburetted Hydrogen. 



The evolution of this gas is so abundant, and extends over such a large surface,' that we 

 must refer its origin to some general cause. In Chautauque county, as I have already re- 

 marked, the strata of slate have thin seams or patches of a bituminous matter, which burns 

 with a flame entirely resembling that of the gas which is so copiously disengaged through its 

 fissures. With this slate, there alternates a sandstone, which every where contains small cavi- 

 ties filled with petroleum ; and all the specimens of which give out a strong bituminous odour. 

 This liquid substance appears originally to have been diffused throughout the whole mass of 

 the rock, both sandstone and slate, and to have given to it the peculiar character which it now 

 possesses. 



It is probable that the gas so copiously discharged, is formed by the action of heat upon 

 the bituminous matter thus generally diffused through the strata of sandstone and slate ; or it 

 may be that the same matter which, in the upper strata is solid or liquid, is, at greater depths, 

 the gas kept in a liquid form by the pressure of the superincumbent strata. A fact which I 

 observed at Fredonia confirms this view, and in my opinion proves that there is, at some dis- 

 tance below the surface, a vast reservoir of gas, the evolution of which is prevented by the 

 pressure exerted upon it. The fact to which I refer is, that when the water in the creek is 

 low, bubbles of gas are often observed, which disappear entirely when the water has risen, 

 as after a rain. And again, gas may be obtained at almost any part of the bank by boring to 

 the depth of twenty or thirty feet. So common, indeed, is this occurrence, that many of the 



