158 T. Sterry Hunt on the Chemical and Geological History 
about to be noticed. Itis to be remarked that the chemical com- 
position of these bodies varies considerably ; the earlier analyses 
of petroleum and naphtha give a composition which approaches 
C,H,; but the later investigations of Dela Rue and Muller, on the 
roducts distilled from the petroleum of Rangoon, and those of 
the various hydrocarbons having, for the most part, the formula 
5: Re e first formula a may however be adopted, as ex- 
ieee snipraxisianivale the « composition of the liquid bitumens. 
e different analyses of asphalt show a diminished quantity of 
ek de = ih “A oxygen. Thus nip elastic baer 
and hydrogen. Passing from the asphalts to idrialine, the re-. 
sults of whose analysis aie dase by C,,H,, we have a hy- 
drocarbon with a minimum of hydrogen. It is well in this place 
to re the above results with the formula C,, 
which is dedecsd from Wetherell’s analysis of the so-called ‘ak 
bertite or Albert coal. A “ Fa passing into mineral resin” 
gave to Regnault, C,, “ie five "HO Ww of "Tee 
hose of coal, was C, i, with from O, to O,. From sheds re- 
sults it will be seen that some sites ath a roach | bituminous coals — 
sO othe it is easy to conceive the same organic matters giving rise 
either to coal or to asphalt, even without losing their structure, 
uch appears to be tise this'Ga se in the Tertiary strata of Trini 
and Venezuela, the Aretha of which from Mr, Wall’s researches 
*In ee formulas, which have been eae for twenty-four equivalents of 
re with cellulose, C,,Ho, have designe resen 
ply the results of ee without attempting to to fix the ee of the matters 
in question, In the notation employed, H=1, C=6, and O=8. As it is not gen 
erally eet in this Jou Ata I ye not thought proven 2 th adopt, in this paper, the 
elements, now e yed by so many chemists. 
may however call attention to the fact, that I was, t coon the first to propose — 
change. i 
a ze, . i t ients o pricy ty 
Ee and carbon in ordinary formulas seem to furnish a conclusive reason for ie 
their svat te or fur dividing t ne of hydrogen, chlorine, gr or wo f 
as four volumes or two vi gr are taken as sere 
scan bows Science, [2], xv. 280k Bid 
Phil. Mag., [4], v, p. 526, and Ci Chem. Centralblatt, 1853, p. 849.) 
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