40 REPORT— 1866. 



I have had occasiou to make a large number of experiments on such discharges 

 taken alone and diluted with much water, with the view of testing the desti-uctive 

 nature of these liquids and mixtures upon the life of hsh, and the general results of 

 the inquiry I purpose to lay before the Section. 



The discharges from the paraffin oil- works are of the following nature : — 



1. Crude petroleum and shale-oil escaping from the crude oil-casks, either when 

 fuU or when empty, when the drainings leak awaj' into the surrounding soil and 

 thence to the drains. 



2. The condensing water from the worms of the crude and refining stills, which 

 often passes away impregnated with paraffin oil. 



3. The spent acid liquor which has been used in acting upon the crude petroleum 

 or shale-oil. 



4. The spent alkaline liquid or soda which has been employed in acting upon 

 the oil which has been previously treated with acid. 



Besides these there is the accidental overllow of the retorts, both during the fiirst 

 redistillation of the crude oil, and subsequently in the distillation of the relined oil, 

 and which can hardly be altogether provided against. 



The drainings from the oil-casks, when the latter have been emptied and are ex- 

 posed to the sun, are considerable when a number of casks are stored together, and 

 the oil which percolates through the soil is liable not only to ooze through the 

 ground, but when rain falls, the oil floats thereupon, and is thus carried into the 

 ordinary drains. Any material damage to rivers, however, from this cause may be 

 lessened by providing proper surface drains, which carry all the oily water to traps 

 where it settles, and the oil may be removed from the surface whilst the water is 

 run off underneath. The condensing water from the stills is liable to be impregnated 

 with paraffin oil from the leakage of the pipes, which is greater when the pipes are 

 of cast iron than when they are constructed of malleable iron. Of course any ex- 

 cessive leakage is quickly arrested, but there is generally that taint communicated 

 to the water which, independent of the lesser proportion of oxygen dissolved in the 

 water as compared mth ordinary river- water, renders the water more or less dele- 

 terious to the health offish. 



The spent acid liquor and the spent soda-liquor, however, are the most serious 

 discharges which, eitlier regidarly or occasionally, escape from paraffin oil-works, and 

 their influence upon the health and life of fish are much more decided than the 

 paraffin oil itself. 



The spent acid liquor consists of the sulphm'ic acid which has been added to the 

 crude oil, accompanied by tar products, including picoline and other L .t -i- oils, and to 

 which the acid liquor no doubt owes part of its poisonous properties. Whilst now 

 the material in question is to some extent utilized by separating the tar, and either 

 mixing it with spent oak bark, or sawdust, and using it as a fuel, or by distilling it 

 into pitch, yet occasionally the acid liquor is discharged into a neighboiu-ing stream. 

 It is a black tarry liquid of the consistence of molasses, with a somewhat sulphureous 

 odour, and a very small quantity added to water confers poisonous properties upon 

 the latter. 



In one example I found the spent acid liquor, which was collected somewhat 

 diluted with water, to possess the following powerful efl'ects iipon fish : — 



1. When the liquor was taken by itself and fish immersed therein, they were dead 

 in five minutes. ' 



2. When the liquor was diluted with three times its volume of good stream water 

 and fish introduced into the mixture, they were killed in ten minutes. 



3. With one of the liquor and twenty of water, the fish died in fifteen minutes. 



4. One of the liquor and 100 of water, killed the fish in fifteen to twenty 

 minutes. 



5. One of the liquor and 1000 of water was poisonous to the fish in two hours, 

 whilst 



6. In one of the liquor to 10,000 of water, the fish were not killed by their 

 immersion in the mixed liquor for twenty-four hours, but were apparently sick 

 and prostrate. 



The spent soda-liquor which has been employed in treating the oil which had 

 been previously acted upon by acid is necessarily decidedly alkaline and caustic in 



