122 Carburetted Hydrogen. 



doubt that the source of these things is one and the same. Im- 

 mense quantities of this gas are continually rising from the various 

 wells, but not in such violent discharges as formerly, when the whole 

 volume of water in a well was sometimes thrown a hundred feet 

 high, with tremendous force and noise. This was remarkably the 

 fact in a well dug at the lower part of the salines, when the dis- 

 charge was kept up for a number of days. In some places it is dis- 

 charged periodically, at intervals of eight or ten days, bringing up 

 with it large quantities of petroleum, to the amount of several bar- 

 rels. For the collection of such vast quantities of gas there must 

 be corresponding cavities in which it may be treasured up until they 

 become so full, as to overcome the resistance of the superincumbent 

 water, and force a passage to the surface. Collections of the same 

 nature sometimes take place in the hills, at a distance from the rivers, 

 or saline springs. Several places are known where the earth and 

 rocks have been blown out to a considerable distance, leaving a cav- 

 ity of several yards in diameter and in depth. As to the origin of the 

 gas — although it is so commonly associated with the salt water — 

 there is nothing in the history of the latter which should lead us to 

 suppose that it is any farther concerned in the production of the gas, 

 than as affording moisture and perhaps to a degree, modifying veg- 

 etable decomposition, so that it may proceed more tardily and 

 equally, and therefore endure longer and consequently afford gas for a 

 greater length of time. 



Probably the true reason why saline fountains are commonly at- 

 tended by inflammable gas is, that the coal formation and salt de- 

 posits are, geologically, close neighbors ; the salt being usually above 

 in Europe and other countries, but not invariably so in the valley of 

 the Ohio, and in the valleys of its confluent streams. It appears 

 from the facts detailed in this memoir, that the salt is often below 

 the coal and probably alternates occasionally with it. If the gas 

 comes from the coal, there must be extensive beds below the salt 

 deposits not yet discovered in boring, for those which have been 

 penetrated are not sufficient to furnish such immense and constant 

 supplies as are daily and hourly discharged at the salines. The 

 most rational conclusion is, that, in the manner indicated above, they 

 both assist in furnishing the materials. This compound gas is the 

 same with that which collects in such quantities in the coal mines of 

 England, and by its explosion proves so destructive to the lives of 

 the miners, but which the immortal Davy has rendered harmless by 

 the use of his safety lamp. 



