490 TRANSACTIONS OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 



when the plug was removed the flow commenced again. Tliere is very 

 little difference in the specific gravity of the oils; the heavy ones that are 

 in market are the result of distillation, that which flows from the wells is 

 from forty-two to forty-nine, scale of Bauine; there are wells near the 

 Allegany, the oil of which is from thirty-two to forty specific grav- 

 ity. Tlie new well that was discovered some ten days ago, gives a yellow 

 oil; they then changed the tube and the oil came up mixed with water, 

 which they could not separate except by heating; the tube was changed 

 f"om one to three inches in diameter. 



Mr. Bull inquired how long a well continued to flow. • 



Mr. Pratt said for about eight months; the average life of a flowing 

 well is eight months, and continually decreasing; that was the case with 

 the large wells, but some of the small ones commenced small and increased 

 fourfold. The Buckeye well gave at first 1,000 barrels for ten months, and 

 gradually came down to something like a pipe stem, and they are now 

 putting a pump down. The supply now of the different wells he would 

 judge to be about 5,000 barrels a day to some 18,000 about eight months ago. 

 Wells have been bored down to 400 feet, and had to be abandoned for want 

 of means to go further, and there have been cases of wells ceasing to flow 

 as they have gone down further. The Empire was some fifteen to twenty 

 feet lower than the Buckeye. The shafts were all sunk perpendicularly. 



Mr. J. H. Churchill said the result attributed by Mr. Pratt to the influ- 

 ence of water, was the change of color, which was only removed by dis- 

 tillation diffused from the efiect produced by water when intimately mixed, 

 as he has seen it in some cases ,with refined oil. In this instance steam 

 was condensed in the oil and produced a milkiuess throughout it, but in 

 the course of a day or two, with rest only, it completely separated. 



Mr. Pratt said the milky appearance in refined oil was owing to the acid 

 not being all removed; in refining, the best results have been obtained 

 with sulphuric acid in removing the odor, and the acid afterwards removed 

 by an alkali. 



Mr. Grieves said that muriatic acid would be used but for its greater cost, 

 as it was a better deodorizer than sulphuric acid. 



Prof. Everett. — Sulphuric acid answered the purpose very well; the cost 

 between the two acids was only some three cents a pound. 



Mr. Pratt said the size of the boring for the oil is from three to four 

 inches in diameter; in boring, the drill has at times dropped suddenly from 

 four to five inches. 



The Chairman said that a most remarkable fact connected with the oil 

 wells was that the lighter particles of the oil, which some few months ago 

 were considered as worthless, have now become very valuable, owing to 

 thejir use as a substitute for turpentine. 



Mr, Parmelee read a few extracts from the patents of Mr. E. Fall, of 

 Brookline, Mass., on his manner of treating bichute, in which he speaks of 

 using carbon spirits; he wished to inquire if thei'e was anything known in 

 commerce as carbon spirits. 



Prof. Everett said it is possible that he refers to the lighter oils, such as 

 benzole. What is known as benzine, naphtha and benzole, are all substan- 

 tially the same; they only differ in the temperature at which they are 



