JYotice of a Fountain of Petroleum. 99' 



iroleum, which is so thick and adhesive that it does not fall off, but 

 is removed by scraping the instrument upon the lip of a cup. 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 

 whenev^er 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 carbonic acid gas mingled with it and not improbably azote 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 pool 

 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 body 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 oi'igin 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 vi^e had the pleasure of see- 

 ing water that was on its way to New Orleans and the Gulf of Mexi- 



