Notice of a Fountain of Petroleum. 99 
troleum, which is so thick and adhesive that it does not fall off, but 
is removed by scraping the instrument upon the lip of acup. It has 
then a very foul appearance, like very dirty tar or molasses, but it is — 
purified by heating it and straining it, while hot, through flannel or other 
woolen stuff. It is used, by the people of the vicinity, for sprains and 
rheumatism, and for sores on their horses, it being, in both cases, rub= 
bed upon the part. It is not monopolized by any one, but is carried 
away freely, by all who care to collect it, and for this purpose the 
spring is frequently visited. I could not ascertain how much is an- 
nually obtained; the quantity must be considerable. It is said to 
rise more abundantly in hot weather than in cold. Gas is constant- 
ly escaping through the water, and appears in bubbles upon its sur- _ 
face ; it becomes much more abundant and rises in large volume 
whenever the mud at the bottom is stirred by a pole. We had no 
means of collecting or of firing it, but there can be no doubt that it 
is the carburetted hydrogen,—probably the lighter kind, but render- 
ed heavier and more odorous by holding a portion of the petroleum’ 
in solution ; whenever it is examined we should of course expect to 
find’ caiiggiclé acid gas mingled with it and not imp or 
nitrogen. We could not learn that any one had attempted to fire 
the gas, as it rises, or to kindle the film of petroleum upon the wa- 
ter: it might form a striking night experiment. 
We were told that an intoxicated Indian had fallen into the wiih 
and been drowned, many years ago, and that his body had never 
been recovered; others doubted the truth of the story. Were it true, 
it-would be a curious enquiry, whether the antiseptic properties of 
petroleum, (so well exemplified in the Egyptian mummies;) may not 
have preserved this bedy from putrefaction. 
_ The history of this’ spring is not distinctly known: the Indians 
-were well acquainted with it, and a square mile around it is still 
reserved for the Senecas. As to the geological origin of the spring, 
it can scarcely admit of a doubt, that it rises from beds of bituminous 
coal, below; at what depth we know not, but probably far down ; 
the formation is doubtless connected with the bituminous coal of the 
neighboring counties of Pennsylvania and of the West, rather than 
with the anthracite beds of the central parts of Pennsylvania.. 
A branch of the Oil Creek, which flows into the Allegany River, 
a principal tributary of the Ohio, passes near this spring, and we 
crossed the rivulet in going to it; thus we had the pleasure of Seer 
ing water was on its way to New Orleans and the Gulf i 
