468  Contributions  to  Industrial  Chemistry.  {A™'J0™1' 
Pharm. 
1915. 
distillation  of  the  heavy  oils  at  about  5000  to  5500  F.  with  the  alumi- 
num chloride,  obtaining,  as  a  result,  saturated  hydrocarbons  in  both 
the  gasoline  and  kerosene  fractions  produced.  Mr.  McAfee's  paper 
has  just  recently  appeared  in  both  Metallurgical  and  Chemical  Engi- 
neering and  Journal  of  Industrial  and  Engineering  Chemistry,  and 
is  worth  careful  study.  I  heard  him  give  an  account  of  his  results 
at  the  San  Francisco  meeting  of  the  American  Institute  of  Chemical 
Engineers,  and  examined  his  samples  of  oils  as  used  and  obtained  in 
his  work. 
My  account  of  the  American  development  of  the  petroleum 
industry  would  be  incomplete  did  I  not  mention  the  rapid  develop- 
ment of  the  production  of  gasoline  by  the  condensation  of  natural 
gas  accompanying  crude  petroleum,  or  what  is  called  "  casing-head 
gas."  Bulletin  No.  88  of  the  Bureau  of  Mines,  Department  of  the 
Interior,  on  "  The  Condensation  of  Gasoline  from  Natural  Gas,"  by 
Burrell,  Seibert,  and  Oberfell,  issued  this  year,  gives  a  very  com- 
plete picture  of  this  new  industry.  I  merely  give  the  summaries  of 
amounts  of  gasoline  so  produced  in  recent  years:  1912,  12,081,179 
gallons;  1913,  24,060,817  gallons.  Of  course,  this  gasoline  with  a 
gravity  of  85 0  to  900  B.  is  reduced  by  blending  it  with  naphtha 
distillate. 
A  second  great  industry  developed  in  this  country  is  the  work- 
ing up  of  native  rock  phosphate  of  lime  into  a  fertilizer  product. 
Of  course,  the  value  of  phosphoric  acid  as  an  element  in  the  fertiliza- 
tion of  the  soil  was  already  indicated  by  Liebig,  the  great  chemical 
founder  of  scientific  agriculture,  and  the  use  of  the  rich  native  phos- 
phates known  as  guano  was  extensively  followed.  But  the  opening 
up  of  the  South  Carolina  phosphate  rock  beds  in  1870,  followed  by 
the  discovery  of  the  still  more  abundant  deposits  of  Florida  in  1888 
and  of  Tennessee  in  1893,  furnished  the  material  for  what  was 
practically  a  new  and  American  industry.  The  mining  of  rock  phos- 
phate and  the  manufacture  of  superphosphate  fertilizers  henceforth 
went  hand  in  hand,  with  the  result  that  one  of  the  great  chemical 
industries  of  America  was  developed.  Reckoned  by  tonnage  of 
products,  it  is  the  largest  of  our  chemical  industries,  and  it  is  im- 
portant, too,  as  consuming  fully  one-half  of  the  American  sulphuric 
acid  production,  far  exceeding  all  other  industries  in  this  respect. 
I  shall  not  take  the  time  here  to  trace  the  development  of  this 
industry,  but  would  like  to  add  a  few  words  to  show  the  magnitude 
of  our  resources  in  raw  materials  in  this  line. 
