BULLETIN OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA 

 Vol. 10, pp. 277-284, PL. 29 APRIL 25, 1899 



ORIGIN OF GRAHAMITE 



BY I. C. WHITE 



{Read before the Society December SO, 189S) 

 CONTENTS 



Page 



Origin of name 277 



Investigations by others. 278 



Results of exploration by drilling 278 



Extent of grahamite-bearing fissures 280 



Conversion of petroleum into grahamite 280 



Artificial production of grahamite 281 



Origin of similar substances 281 



Relationship between grahamite and petroleum deposits . 281 



Bituminous material from Brooks well . 281 



Place and mode of occurrence 281 



Geological relations 282 



Suggested origin 282 



Chemical analyses. 283 



Effect of solvents 283 



Occurrence at other localities 283 



Summary of conclusions 284 



Origin of Name 



The wrahamite deposit of Ritchie county, West Virginia, was first de- 

 scribed by Professor J. P. Lesley in a paper read before the American 

 Philosophical vSociety March 20, 1863. The name (in honor of the 

 Messrs Graham, who were largely interested in the mine) was given the 

 mineral by Mr Henry Wurtz, the chemist, of New York city, who in 

 1865 published a " Report upon a mineral formation in West Virginia" 

 for the Ritchie Mineral Resin and Oil Company of Baltimore, a corpora- 

 tion owning and operating the mine for the manufacture of illuminating 

 gas and mineral oil. 



In a paper dated October 14, 1873, and published in volume vi, second 

 series, of the American Journal of Science, Professor William M. Fon- 

 taine gives a very full description of the mineral and its geological sur- 



XLI— Bull. Geol. Soc. Am., Vol. 10, 1898 (277) 



