PROCEEDINGS OF THE POLYTECHNIC ASSOCIATION. 489 



seventy feet, pumping seventy barrels a day. When the flowing wella 

 failed th(;y resorted to pumping, but less oil was obtained than when the 

 well was a flowing one. The flowing wells have mostly given out, and 

 pumping ones most in use; and now the average yield has greatly de- 

 creased. The question of these wells continuing their supply is one of 

 great importance, but generally as one well gives out another is found to 

 supply its place; but even if they all should fail the wells of Canada could 

 be made available, and would be sufficient to keep up the supply for an 

 indefinite period, so that there was not much danger of our returning to 

 coal for light. 



The process of refining the crude oil is simply by heating it and collect- 

 ing the vapor as it passes off through the still; it is then treated with acid, 

 and afterwards with alkalies in the usual way to remove the acid. Flow- 

 ing wells he could not account for; he had seen one owned by the Lockport 

 company, that flowed for fifteen minutes, and stopped for some time, and 

 then commenced flowing again. Some wells appear to give out by the gas 

 becoming exhausted; he thought the supply of these wells was below and 

 not in the mountains; drills weighing some 600 or 100 pounds was thrown 

 out by the force of the gas. The well that gave out periodically, flowed 

 at full force when it commenced again. It is probable that when this well 

 stopped flowing the gas became exhausted, and it ceased until sufficient 

 had accumulated to give pressure enough to force up the oil; the gas that 

 flowed up with the oil was carburetted hydrogen. There is a difference in 

 the vapor of the gas and the vapor of the oil. The amount of oil the 

 wells give in twenty four hours varies veiy much, some giving from 300 

 to 400 barrels a day, while there are others that yield 900 barrels of the 

 oil with 300 barrels of water with it a day. Tlie temperature of the wells 

 he tested was seventy degrees, or about the temperature of the atmos- 

 phere at the time, 



Mr. Churchill inquired whether the gas continued to escape during the 

 intervals in the flowing of the oil. 



Prof. Everett said that it did, and when the oil stopped flowing, the gas 

 continued. 



Mr. Pratt said that flowing wells were first discovered in the Buchanan 

 district, and flowing wells have since been discovered up the creek; the 

 large ones were first found below it. The^last large well was some six or 

 seven miles from Titusville. The greatest flow he had heard of was the 

 Empire well, which was said to give 1,800 barrels a day, but this was only 

 for a short period; it gradually gvcw less, and last November decreased to 

 some 300 to 500 barrels, and tl)cn stopped very suddenly. The company 

 had just made a contract for 10,000 barrels, and had made arrangements 

 to fill it by fitting up pipes, &c., and hud just three barrels in when it failed; 

 it is now giving some 300 barrels a day by pumping; it appears that the 

 pumps agitate the well, when the oil seems to be forced up. The Phillips' flow- 

 ing well gives some 600 barrels a day of yellow oil ; this is what is known as 

 oil with the water in it. This yellow oil flowed from all the wells in the 

 vicinity at the time. A curious fact connected with this well was, that 

 when another well was discovered near it, the supply of the first one was 

 greatly diminished, and on plugging up one the other ceased to flow, and 



