196 
The  Origin  of  Petroleum. 
Am,  Jour,  Pharm. 
April,  1888. 
free,  and  partly  combines  with  the  carbon,  and  thus  are  formed 
volatile  hydrocarbons.  Further,  with  considerable  pressure,  an  excess 
of  hydrogen  and  lengthened  contact,  the  result  can  only  be  hydro- 
carbons, rich  in  hydrogen,  such,  precisely,  as  are  those  of  which  our 
petroleum  is  composed.  The  water  coming  into  contact  with  matter 
in  a  state  of  fusion  is  reduced  to  vapor.  Part  of  this  steam  rises 
through  the  crevices  in  the  strata,  carrying  with  it  the  vapors  of  the 
hydrocarbons.  These  hydrocarbons  are  subsequently  liquefied,  and 
accumulate  in  the  rocks  already  prepared  to  receive  them. 
The  question  of  the  Origin  of  Petroleum  is  one  of  great  importance, 
as  up  to  the  present  time  petroleum  explorers  have  had  no  absolute 
scientific  data  on  which  to  base  their  operations  in  seeking  for  new 
oil-bearing  districts ;  but  if  the  inorganic  theory  prove  to  be  the  cor- 
rect source  of  origin,  then  Professor  Mendelejeff^s  explanation  may  be 
the  means  of  rendering  eminent  service  to  the  future  development  of 
the  petroleum  industry,  by  affording  definite  rules  on  which  to  make 
further  petroleum  discoveries  with  success. 
It  has  been  frequently  asserted  that  at  no  very  distant  date  our 
petroleum  supplies  will  be  exhausted,  and  therefore  this  question  of 
origin  has  an  important  bearing  on  the  supply  if  the  organic  theory 
be  the  accepted  one,  namely,  the  result  of  metamorphic  action  on 
vegetable  or  animal  organisms,  its  generation,  as  Peckham  says,  is 
co-existent  only  with  that  metamorphic  action,  an  action  which  we 
have  no  reason  to  believe  has  been  prevalent  on  a  large  scale  during 
the  recent  geological  periods,  and  therefore  the  generation  of  petro- 
leum has  been  practically  ended.  If,  on  the  contrary,  we  accept  the 
inorganic  or  chemical  theory,  we  provide  for  a  process  the  conditions 
of  which  are  perpetually  renewed  and  continuous,  and  at  present 
active. 
The  rise  and  progress  of  the  petroleum  industry  has  been  the  most 
remarkable  and  rapid  of  any  branch  of  commerce  of  modern  times, 
and  it  has  already  exercised  a  marked  influence  on  our  modern  civili- 
zation. To  recount  the  numerous  uses  to  which  it  is  now  applied  is 
not  within  the  scope  of  my  present  paper.  It  is  sufficient  to  say  that 
as  the  cheapest  and  one  of  the  most  brilliant  illuminants  the  world  has 
yet  discovered  it  has  added  largely  to  our  social  comfort  and  happi- 
ness. It  has  enabled  the  poorest  of  our  workpeople  to  considerably 
extend  their  hours  of  labor,  thereby  increasing  their  power  of  wage- 
earning.    It  is  rapidly  displacing  all  other  illuminants.    As  a  lubri- 
