NATURE 



441 



THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 1901. 



PETROLEUM. 

 Handtwok on Petroleum. By Captain J. H. Thomson 

 and Boverton Redwood. Pp. xix + 298. (London : 

 Charles Grififin and Co., Ltd., 1501). Price %s. 6d. 



THE cooperation of Captain Thomson, H.M. Chief 

 Inspector of Explosives, and Mr. Boverton Red- 

 wood, author of the encyclopaidic " Treatise on Petro- 

 leum," in producing a handbook on the subject for the 

 use, not only of officers of local authorities charged with 

 the duties prescribed by the Petroleum Acts, but also of 

 those engaged in the petroleum trade, strikes us as 

 peculiarly happy. 



The handbook commences with a short historical intro- 

 duction, and the authors then proceed to a brief exposi- 

 tion of the theories of the origin of petroleun;. 



Whereas French and Russian chemists have supported 

 the inorganic origin, a theory which in outline regards 

 the oil as formed by the condensation under pressure of 

 the gases generated by the action of water-vapour on 

 metallic carbides, .'Vmerican geologists and German 

 chemists favour the organic origin of petroleum. 



Berthelot and Mendeleeff give the weight of their 

 authority to the first theory, but there seems to be but 

 little doubt that, though it is possible to produce petro- 

 leum in this manner, the organic origin is at once more 

 probable and agrees better with the deductions of the 

 geologist. 



The supporters of the organic theory are also divided. 

 The school of German theorists, among whom the names 

 of Hofer and Engler stand out prominently, consider 

 petroleum to be of purely animal origin, whereas many 

 American geologists consider certain types, such as the 

 oil of Pennsylvania, to be of vegetable origin. 



At the meeting of German men of science and physi- 

 cians at Munich in 1899, Kramer brought forward the 

 view that petroleum is formed by the decomposition, 

 under pressure, of the wax at the bottom of lakes and 

 seas, which originated in the cells of diatoms ; infusorial 

 earth, which consists of the skeletons of Bacillariacere, 

 exists in beds of enormous extent in districts where 

 petroleum is found. In the discussion which followed, 

 Engler, whilst admitting that some oil might be formed 

 in this manner, upheld his view that petroleum is 

 primarily derived from the submarine decomposition of 

 fish, substantiating his theory by the announcement that 

 he had found and analysed drops of petroleum from fossil 

 bivalves in the Lias at Rothmatsch : we shall, however, 

 be wisest to consider at present, with the authors of this 

 book, petroleum to be of mixed animal and vegetable 

 origin. 



The next chapters are occupied by an account of the 

 sources of supply, by a description of the methods for 

 the production, refining and transport (the value of this 

 section would have been considerably enhanced by 

 diagrams and drawings), and by the enumeration of the 

 names and chief properties of the commercial products 

 of pftr'.leum. Among much other useful information, 

 NO. 1662, VOL. 64] 



the difference between "benzene," "benzine," "benzol" 

 and "benzoline" is clearly explained. The next two 

 chapters are devoted to "flash-point" and "fire-test." 



The term "flash-point," as defined by the Act of 1879, 

 has given rise to much misconception; it is not "the 

 point at which petroleum gives off an inflammable 

 vapour," but the temperature at which the oil gives off 

 sufficient vapour to form an inflammable mixture with 

 the air, a matter which, as the authors remark, depends 

 entirely on the experimental conditions. 



A considerable uniformity was obtained by the adop- 

 tion (Act of 1S79) of the Abel test, but the apparatus is 

 capable of considerable improvement, and this improve- 

 ment is met with in the Abel-Pensky test, a modification 

 adopted by the German Government, the use of which 

 the authors hope will shortly be legalised in this country. 

 As the flash-point is lowered i'6° F. for every reduction 

 of an inch in barometric pressure, it is important to 

 introduce a correction depending on the height of the 

 barometer ; such a table of corrections is given in this 

 handbook and is used in Germany, but has not as yet 

 received the sanction of Parliament. The Abel and .^bel- 

 Pensky tests are described with great detail and clear- 

 ness, as is also the elegant method for ascertaining the 

 presence of small quantities of petroleum vapour devised 

 by one of the authors, namely by the use of the Redwood 

 test-lamp, the principle of which depends on the halo or 

 "flame-cap" which surrounds the hydrogen flame when 

 burning in an atmosphere containing a small proportion 

 of inflammable gas— the appearance of the flame under 

 these conditions is illustrated by an excellent coloured 

 photograph, and the diagrams throughout this section 

 are most useful. 



The rest of the book is occupied by an account of the 

 legislation relating to petroleum and calcium carbide, 

 including the precautions to be taken in the storage of 

 the oil, and remarks on the construction of petroleum 

 lamps. This section, which, like the rest of the book, is 

 extremely clearly written, should be studied by all oil- 

 dealers, lamp-manufacturers and local authorities ; we 

 venture to think its perusal would repay " the man in the 

 street." 



The law with regard to petroleum in force at the 

 present time is contained in the Petroleum Acts of 1871, 

 1879, and 1881, but the history of petroleum legislation is 

 one of " laborious attempt and discouraging failure." 

 Subsequent to the Act of 1881, a Bill of fifty-seven clauses 

 was introduced (in 18S3) and referred to a Select Com- 

 mittee of the House of Lords ; this was followed by a 

 tour of inspection and the drafting, in 1884, of a second 

 Bill, followed in its turn by an extension of the tour to 

 America. In 1888 important conferences were held and 

 memoranda presented to both Houses ; the inevitable 

 Bill was introduced in 1S91 and a Select Committee 

 appointed in 1894, which was reappointed in 1896 and 

 1897 and v/hich reported in 1898. In 1899 Mr. Reckitt, 

 a member of the committee, introduced a private Bill to 

 raise the flash-point from 73^ F. to 100' F. (.\bel test). 

 The Bill was defeated, but the "lobbying" on this occa- 

 sion was such as to induce Mr. Healy to express wonder 

 whether "all this was pure philanthropy." 



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