228 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. XIV. No. 348 



him, as may be necessary to bring the recorded figures in line. To 

 assist in this, the runner is used. 



It is impossible to give here a full description of the process, but 

 it seems to be little more than finding and aligning certain figures 

 in the two concentric tables. It is claimed by its inventor, Mr. 

 Walter Hart of this city, that with it the simplest as well as the 

 most complicated problems in multiplication, division, proportion, 

 compound proportion, common divisor, common multiple, interest, 

 involution, evolution, compound percentages, averaging of accounts, 

 etc., can be readily solved. He has prepared for distribution a 

 pamphlet giving a full description of the device, and of the method 

 of using it. 



OIL AND IRON IN NEW ZEALAND. 

 The New Zealand Government have recently published a report 

 upon the petroleum-deposits of the Taranaki district, which appar- 

 ently have a great future before them. The oil comes to the sur- 

 face in many places near New Plymouth, besides impregnating the 

 surrounding country to such an extent that farmers have had to 

 abandon many wells, on account of the petroleum gushing into 

 them with the water. To ascertain whether there was a proba- 

 bility of these oil-deposits proving a mercantile success, the govern- 



that the beach at New Plymouth is pitted with petroleum oozings. 

 What is now wanted is some trial drills to test the quantity and 

 character of the oil-supply. A few drills in the vicinity of New 

 Plymouth ought to bring to the surface not only enough oil to pro- 

 vide the locality with smelting fuel, but also sufficient for severa) 

 refineries. 



It is curious, that, while millions are invested by the public of 

 this country in purely speculative gold-mines, hardly any funds are 

 devoted to sinking wells for petroleum in Burmah, Canada, and 

 New Zealand. In America, hundreds of times over, a single well 

 has proved as remunerative as a gold-mine ; yet, although petrole- 

 um can be easily enough turned into gold, such is the demand for 

 it, English investors have hitherto ignored petroleum undertakings. 

 Presently they will rush into it, just as shippers have rushed into 

 the oil-steamer business, building sixty tank-vessels in less than 

 five years, after a prolonged period of similar indifference. 



THE ORIGIN OF PETROLEUM.' 

 The enormous consumption of petroleum and natural gas fre- 

 quently raises the question as to the probability of the proximate 

 exhaustion of the supply ; and, without doubt, many fear to adopt 

 the use of oil, from a feeling that if such use once becomes general. 



FIG. 3. —THE PROPORTIOR. 



ment of New Zealand deputed Mr. Gordon, inspecting engineer of 

 the Mines Department, to visit the locality. Mr. Gordon made a 

 careful survey of the country, and in his lengthy report he affirms 

 that " petroleum exists over a large area, and that it is only a ques- 

 tion of boring to the requisite depth to get at the source." Accord- 

 ing to Engineering, these deposits have a twofold advantage : if 

 successfully developed, they not only have at their disposal the 

 Australasian market, now dependent on America for oil, but they 

 would further provide with fuel the local iron industry, at present 

 resting upon limited supplies of coal and charcoal. 



Along the shores of the Taranaki district stretch the famous 

 iron-sand beaches of New Zealand, — beaches composed almost 

 entirely of pulverized iron ore. Countless millions of tons of this 

 material lie along the western coasts of the North Island of New 

 Zealand. The ore produces splendid iron, but is somewhat refrac- 

 tory. This would be a trifle, however, if an abundant supply of 

 cheap fuel were available for smelting purposes. This seems to be 

 now forthcoming in the shape of petroleum. For some time past 

 oil has been largely used for smelting in America, and there is no 

 reason why it should not be successfully adopted in New Zealand ; 

 the Taranaki oil having plenty of body, and being admirably 

 adapted for fuel purposes. It may be noted, that, while the oil- 

 deposits of America and Russia are several hundred miles inland, 

 those of New Zealand are actually on the coast ; so close, indeed. 



the demand will exceed the production, the price will rise indefi- 

 nitely, and old methods of illumination and old forms of fuel will 

 have to be reverted to. From this point of view, it is most inter- 

 esting to inquire what are the probabilities of a continuous supply ; 

 and such an investigation leads at once to the question, " What is 

 the origin of petroleum ?" In the year 1877, Professor Mendeleefi 

 undertook to answer this question ; and as his theory appears to 

 be very little known, and has never been fully set forth in the Eng- 

 lish language, I trust you will forgive me for laying a matter so 

 interesting before you. Dr. Mendeleeff commences his essay by 

 the statement that most persons assume, without any special 

 reason, — excepting, perhaps, its chemical composition, — that 

 naphtha, like coal, has a vegetable origin. He combats this hypoth- 

 esis, and points out, in the first place, that naphtha must have 

 been formed in the depths of the earth. It could not have been 

 produced on the surface, because it would have evaporated ; nor 

 over a sea-bottom, because it would have floated up and been dissi- 

 pated by the same means. In the next place, he shows that naph- 

 tha must have been formed beneath the very site on which it is 

 found ; that it could not have come from a distance, like so many 

 other geological deposits, and for the reasons given above, namely, 

 that it could not be water-borne, and could not have flowed along 



' Extracted from Mr. Anderson's presidential address to Section G (Mechanical 

 Science) of the British Association. 



