Beviews — Petroleum and Oilfields. 121 



for America— wliere, as has often been observed, Nature does every- 

 thing upon the largest scale, and Man aims at accomplishing all 

 things possible in the most extreme style — to exceed in its produc- 

 tion of the raw material, and for Americans to excel in their appli- 

 cation, and to rush in the maddest spirit of speculation into a 

 commercial mania almost unparalleled in modern times. The most 

 extraordinary feature of the story is that Nature has hitherto so far 

 replied to the extravagant demands of the gamblers as to turn up 

 for their benefit a series of prizes such as would never have been 

 dreamt of by the most sanguine enthusiast. On the borders of the 

 Pacific, the remote Californian has a rich supply of bitumen, welling 

 up in his region ; ' and, to look across a hemisphere, we hear from 

 Australia of " Petroleum" Coal Seams, which, though probably not 

 coming within the strict limits of our subject, yet show that our 

 Antipodean relatives are fully alive to this world-wide subject, and 

 are not unlikely to discover the free mineral.* The value of these 

 natural materials brought home to us have caused their more full 

 recognition upon our own soil ; and in addition to the long-known, 

 and not long since much-discussed,^ manufacture of artificial oils 

 from bituminous shales and coals, we now learn, from recently 

 published accounts, of " Petroleum in North Wales."* 



To convey anything like an adequate idea of the extent of the 

 natural supply of the crude material, and of the commercial im- 

 portance of their derivatives, would carry us beyond the scope of 

 the present article, which has for its object to consider the produc- 

 tion of free bituminous substances in its jDurely geological aspect. 

 We must therefore refer our readers to '•' Derrick and Drill," and 

 to Prof. Draper's most interesting paper in the Quarterly Journal of 

 Science^ for statistics, and the perusal, we can assure them, will 

 well repay the research. 



In spite of the touches of exaggeration that are sure, especially 

 amongst Americans, to accompany the history of such a really 

 wonderful commercial discovery, and of its unanticipated results, 

 the general reader will find that the actual facts of the case are full 

 of information and interest, and in "Derrick and Drill" these are 

 conveyed to him in an amusing and readable form. 



But with all the abundance of bitumen and bituminous fluids, 

 and the ubiquity of their occurrence, we may search volumes in 

 vain for anything like satisfactory information as to its geological 

 history. The scientific geologist who would warn his practical 

 brother from fruitless efforts in search of coal, or wishes to point 

 out to the explorer where he may hope to find a supply of subter- 

 ranean fuel, — be it lignite, ordinary coal, or anthracite, — has something- 

 more to depend upon for his statements than the mere empirical 



^ The Resources of California ; Hittell, p. 63. 



2 Sydney Morning Herald, Sept. 7th, 1865. 



3 In the celebrated trial of Young v. Fernie. 



* The Railway News, Nov. 25th, 1865, quoting from Ryland's Iron Trade Circular, 

 Nov. 11th, 1865. 

 5 No. Y., January, 1865. 



