412 



NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



of their origin we find at once well marked differences of opinion 

 and belief. One school declares that petroleum is the result 

 of the primary decomposition of organic matter contained in the 

 rocks under certain favoring conditions, while another and larger 

 section holds that it is always the result of the secondary decom- 

 position of organic matter, or, in other words, that it is due to 

 a process of destructive distillation. 



1 Origin by primary decomposition. Of the first view the late 

 Dr T. S. Hunt is the chief exponent and defender. According to 

 this theory the decomposition of organic matter was mainly 

 effected in situ; that is, in the strata in which the materials were 

 stored, and the resulting product is therefore mainly indigenous 

 to the strata in which it is found. This last feature is seized 

 on in many popular statements and a theory of indigenous 

 origin is made to include the various forms of theories of this 

 class. 



Dr Hunt held that there was an accumulation of organic mat- 

 ter in oil-bearing rocks that passed by a peculiar form of decom- 

 position or decay directly into petroleum; in other words, these 

 substances, instead of passing into the usual products of decay, 

 namely, carbonic acid, ammonia, water, etc. were transformed 

 directly into the bituminous series. This author also strenu- 

 ously urged that as limestones are essentially of organic origin 

 it is to this form of rocks that we must look for the chief source 

 of the production of petroleum. He insisted on this view a score 

 of years before a barrel of oil was ever drawn from the limestone 

 beds of the country. In the light of the remarkable stocks of oil 

 and gas that have been derived from the Trenton limestone with- 

 in the last dozen years, Dr Hunt's claims show great prescience 

 and sagacity. He appears to very much better advantage in con- 

 nection with this revolutionary discovery than any other geolo- 

 gist of his generation. 



But does organic matter pass by primary or direct decomposi- 

 tion into petroleum? Have we any examples of this process in 

 operation in the world today? This is a fair and would seem to 

 be a crucial question. If it is an actual process in the world it 

 ought somewhere to be found in operation. 



Dr Hunt seemed to see this question in its true significance 

 and lays a great deal of emphasis on the testimony of Messrs 



