OEIGIN AND ANALYSES OF BROOKS WELL MATERIAL 283 



possible that it may be some type of asphalt derived from the under- 

 lying petroleum of the Pocono or Big Injun oil sand. 



CHEMICAL ANALYSES 



Specimens of the material pulverized by the drill and preserved by 

 Mr Carll gave the following" proximate analysis to Professor B. H. Hite, 

 chemist of the West Virginia Agricultural Experiment Station, com- 

 pared with an analysis of grahamite made at the same time : 



Material. Brooks No. 1. Grahamite. 



Moisture 00.21 00.26 



Petroleum 1.40 



Volatile matter 34.21 58.37 



Fixed carbon 48.82 39.24 



Ash 15.36 2.13 



Total 100.00 100.00 



Sulphur 1.13 1.25 



An ultimate analysis of another sample by Professor Hite gave tlie 

 following results, compared with Mr Wurtz' analysis of grahamite : 



Material. Brooks No. 1. Grahamite. 



Carbon '. 59.20 76.45 



Hydrogen. 5.77 7.83 



Oxygen..... 14.68 13.46 



Nitrogen 1.01 



Ash 19.34 2.26 



Total 100.00 100.00 



EFFECT OP SOLVENTS 



The chemical composition of the material from the Brooks well, espe- 

 cially in its large quantity of oxygen, thus appears to be in fair agree- 

 ment with grahamite, considering the large amount of ash or earthy ma- 

 terial which it contains. The main doubt about its asphaltic nature is 

 its behavior with the solvents of grahamite. It is only slightly soluble in 

 them, and hence this leaves the question open for still further investiga- 

 tion, though its " drilling like rubber,'' limited (to Brooks well number 1) 

 occurrence, and saturation with petroleum would appear to be strong 

 evidence against its being coal. 



OCCURRENCE AT OTHER LOCALITIES 



Of the hundreds of oil wells drilled in the region, only one other has 

 reported any coaZ^ ma^eria^at this horizon,and that was in Calhoun county, 

 30 miles south from Cairo. Here, on Leading creek, the Cairo Oil com- 



