PEOCEEDINGS OF THE POLYTECHNIC ASSOCIATION. 355 



In Canada he liad soon wells whicli produced from three to four thousand 

 barrels a day, but this oil was found to contain too mucli sulphur for our 

 refining- establishments. The only kind used for light is from the wells of 

 Pennsylvania, Ohio and Virginia. New discoveries of it are being' made 

 almost daily. A well on the shores of Lake Erie gives already about ten 

 barrels per hour. In some places very pure oil is found. There is a well 

 called the " Smith Ferris," which produces an oil that can be burned with- 

 out being subjected to the refining" process. There are many uses to which 

 the refuse products of the refiners are now put. The principal use of the 

 naptha or benzine is for making paints and for dissolving India-rubber. An 

 oil is prepared from petroleum which is employed by curriers in finishing 

 leather, which is said to be superior to the fish and neat's-foot oil generally 

 used. The naptha is also used for exti-acting grease from cloth, and in the 

 process of annealing glass. 



The variety of qualities of the oil from different wells is remarkable. He 

 had in his possessi(jn a heavy oil of only about twenty-five degrees Baume 

 scale, which has an aromatic odor; it cannot be used for burning, but would 

 make a valuable lubricating oil. He had witnessed many of the singular 

 changes in wells described by Prof. Evans. For instance, the Hammond 

 well discharged five hundred barrels per day, but it soon began to give less 

 and less proportion of water until it ceased to flow altogether. 



In the State of Pennsylvania he had seen more than two thousand aban- 

 doned wells, but in some the pumps had been again put in operatioij. New 

 wells were constantly being bored, and the supply was increasing. The 

 business is now being conducted by a diflTei'ent class of men from those who 

 commenced it. Tlie great capitalists of the country are making large 

 investments and buying up the interests of the small dealers. 



Mr. G. Bartlett stated that one company were completing a building of 

 eight hundred feet front, and everything connected with this refinery was 

 to be on the most gigantic scale. The annual government tax which this 

 concern will pay will be one million two hundred thousand dollars. 



Dr. "W. Rowell exhibited an arraiigen)ent of tubes to illustrate the method 

 of raising oil described at the last meeting. It consisted of a glass tube 

 opened at both ends, a smaller tube of glass beside it, had its lower end 

 bent so as to enter the other tube quite loosely. On placing these tubes 

 in the water and blowing into the upper end of the small tube, the air 

 brought up with it the liquid. It seemed to work prettily on a small scale, 

 but it did not determine the power required to raise a given quantity of 

 water. 



^[r. T. C. Smith remarked, in reference to the apparatus for raising liquids 

 spoken of, that he had occasion to make inquiries about its cost, and found 

 that after paying the fee required by the patentee, it would be far more 

 expensive than the ordinary piston pump. 



The conq)arative cost of working this pump was discussed at the last 

 meeting 



Mr. Page alluded to a singular phenomenon which occurred in Rich 

 count}', twenty-thre(! miles from Parkersburg ; an excavation a few feet 

 deep was made, and the d:iy sifter oil was found in it. Stones were thrown 

 up from this opening and afterwards the surface soil in the inmiediato 



