560 



SCIEXCE. 



|Vol. VII., No. 177 



breeds, which closely resemble the buffalo, 

 the head and robes being quite equal, if not 

 superior. Besides the breeding of absolutely 

 thoroughbred buffalo, it is the plan to breed " from 

 selected native or imported Scotch cattle a half- 

 breed that vrill supply the demand for a perfect 

 buffalo-head ; a robe equal in all respects, if not 

 superior, to the best now in the market : and a 

 beef possessing the venison-like taste and nutri- 

 tious qualities of the pure stock of the plains. " 

 The three strong points of the new animal are to 

 be his noble head, his pelt., and his flesh. 



As hating a bearing on the value of the work 

 of the U. S. fish commission, we are glad to give 

 the following figures. The aggregate catch of 

 shad on the Atlantic coast the present year is the 

 largest that has been made since 1872. The Poto- 

 mac River fisheries show an increase of nearly 100,- 

 000 shad over last season. The largest proportion 

 of the catch in the Chesapeake and its tributaries 

 is, however, made by the pound nets in salt or 

 brackish water. The Hudson River was first 

 stocked by the U. S. fish commission with the 

 young of the Atlantic salmon in the spring of 

 1884. Well-grown sea-run fish weighing from ten 

 to sixteen pounds are being taken at the Troy 

 dam, and there is every reason to expect that the 

 salmon will be permanently established in the 

 Hudson River and its tributaries. The rainbow 

 or California trout which was first introduced on 

 the east coast in 1879, and which has been planted 

 in a number of streams in Pennsylvania. Virginia, 

 Tennessee, Alabama, and North Carolina in the 

 last two or three years, is now being taken by 

 anglers in various localities. Quite a number of 

 specimens have recently been taken in the Holston 

 River in the vicinity of Marion, Va., some of them 

 measuring over eighteen inches in length. This 

 stream was stocked with yearling California trout 

 in the spring of 1884. 



PETROLEUM AND NATURAL GAS AS 

 FOUND IN OHIO. 



The introduction of natural gas into Pittsburg 

 and other towns of western Pennsylvania within 

 the last two years, and the marked advantages 

 to manufacturing industries accruing therefrom, 

 have made a great impression on surrounding dis- 

 tricts, and especially upon Ohio. 



In the last-named state an eager search for the 

 new fuel has been entered upon, and is still going 

 forward at a number of the industrial centres. 



As a result, many interesting geological facts have 

 been brought to light, some of which have great 

 economic importance. Additions have also been 

 made to our knowledge of petroleum and natural 

 gas. A few of the leading facts that have been 

 established in this connection, and some of the 

 conclusions that seem warranted from them, will 

 be given here. 



1. Petroleum and natural gas do not need to be 

 considered apart : they are products of the same 

 strata. Every gas-rock is an oil-rock as well, and 

 all rocks that contain oil contain gas also. These 

 products are often intimately associated in the 

 reservoirs, appearing simultaneously when the 

 rock is pierced by the drill : but in some cases 

 gas only is produced. 



When, however, the rock which produces so- 

 called dry gas is followed far enough, it is always 

 found to contain oil as. well. Generally the two 

 products are at no great remove from each other. 

 Their separation seems referable to geological 

 structure, as will presently be shown, the gas 

 occupying the higher portions of the common 

 reservoir. 



53. The origin of petroleum and gas from organic 

 matter as opposed to the so-called chemical or 

 inorganic theories of their origin, is strongly sup- 

 ported by the facts here furnished. The chemical 

 theories require temperatures high enough to 

 leave ineffaceable marks on the strata from which 

 the petroleum is derived ; but no such marks are 

 found in the borings of even the deepest Ohio wells, 

 and some of these wells nearly exhaust the paleo- 

 zoic scale.' There are no igneous intrusions, and 

 no disturbances whatever of the sort that accom- 

 pany metamorphic action : but from top to bottom 

 the series is normal in all respects, affected only 

 by light dips and low folds. 



It is also found that different strata in the same 

 series contain petroleum and gas of different char- 

 acters : in other words, the character of the prod- 

 uct is definitely related to the character of the 

 receptacle and of the strata directly associated 

 therewith. 



3. Petroleum exists as such in Ohio rocks. It is 

 actual, and not merely potential. There is no proof 

 that it is now forming. For any thing that ap- 

 pears, the stock contained in the rocks may have 

 been formed contemporaneously with the beds that 

 contain it. There is, it is true, in addition to this 

 petroleum content, a considerable percentage of 

 organic matter in some formations, as in the black 

 shale, which can be converted into gas and oil by 

 destructive distillation, and, so far as we know 

 by this process alone ; but. as shown in the pre 

 ceding section, there is nothing whatever to lead 

 us to believe that the process of destructive dis 



