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diate vicinity, but when the well was sunk, it was concentrated in one opening. The gas from this well, which was sufficient for thirty burners, was used alone for thirty-seven years, when another was sunk on the creek in the northwest part of the village, the shaft being thirty feet deep, six feet in diameter at the top, and fourteen feet at the bottom with two vertical borings, one of one hundred feet and one of one hundred and fifty feet in depth. In the year 1858, a company was formed, and gas in sufficient quantity to supply 2000 cubic feet per day was conducted to the village through pipes. In 1859 a gas-holder, with a capacity of 12,000 cubic feet, was erected, and private families supplied.

CHEMICAL ANALYSIS OF NATURAL GAS.

Natural gas, like petroleum, is a complex mixture of hydro-carbons, most of which belong to the series known in chemistry as paraffines. It is not, however, to be considered in the light of a petroleum vapor, which upon a slight reduction of temperature is reduced to a liquid. In composition also it differs greatly from the gas made from petroleum through the intervention of the red-hot gas retort, by which this oil is broken up into quite a different series of hydro-carbons, and forming a gas possessing the greatest illuminating power yet obtained. The vapors of these compounds are heavier in proportion to the amount of the carbon element.

The main ingredient of natural gas is marsh gas, which

next to hydrogen gas is the lightest substance known. It is the lowest in the series of hydro-carbons, i. e., it contains the lowest percentage of the carbon element, and possesses greater calorific power than any of them. of them. When pure, it

is perfectly odorless and colorless. In Nature it is, however, generally associated with other gaseous compounds, or has a foreign odor imparted to it in its passage through different earth strata.

Its chemical symbol is CH4, and it contains, approximately, 75 per cent. of carbon and 25 per cent. of hydrogen. Its specific gravity is 0.5576. The next in the paraffine series to which marsh gas belongs, and its almost constant associate, is ethyl-hydride (the chemical symbol of which is CH), containing 80 per cent. of carbon and 20 per cent. of hydrogen; specific gravity 1.043. The extraordinary progress made in synthetical chemistry of later years would lead us to hope that ethyl-hydride, or ethane, may be the point of departure for the formation of a great number of useful compounds, such as alcohol, chloroform, acetic acid, and glycerine. Neither of these substances has yet been synthetically produced, chiefly on account of serious technical difficulties due to the remarkable resistance to ordinary chemical reagents, which all the compounds of this series present.

Carbonic acid is likewise a constant ingredient of natural gas. The chemical symbol of this compound is CO2; it is rather a diluent of the natural gas, and will extinguish a flame instantly if plunged into it. Carbonic oxide, symbol CO, is a frequent, but not constant, component of natural

gas.

This gas contains one atom less of oxygen than carbonic acid, and is always a product of the imperfect combustion of carbon. Nitrogen has been found in the gas of several wells; it is in small proportion. Finally, the allpervading gases, oxygen and hydrogen, the latter in an uncombined state, and frequently constituting a considerable percentage of the natural gas, have also been noticed as constituents.

A careful analysis of the gases of a number of wells has been made and a record of the same preserved. For a tabulated statement of these, taken from various published sources, the author is indebted to a report (published in pamphlet form) made "by a committee on natural gas to the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, May 21, 1884."

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Table of Analyses of Natural Gas-from various sources.

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82.41 96.50

10.11

......

0.50

4.31

0.23

2.00

2.94

1.00

100.00 100.00

0.693 0.692

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1. Fouqué, Comptes Rendus, lxvii. 1045.

2. H. Wurtz, Amer. Journ. Arts and Sci. (2), xlix. 336.
3. Robert Young.

4. Fouqué, Comptes Rendus, lxvii. 1045.

5.

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16. J. W. Thomas, London, Chem. Society's Journal, 1876. 793.

17.

1875,

66

Upon a careful examination of this table, it will be observed that while a few of the Ethyl series are to be found as constituents of natural gas, many more are wanting. It has been conjectured that in the lower sand rocks of the oil regions all of the members of this series may be found. Marsh gas may, therefore, be considered the chief element, carrying along with it a few other permanent gases, and also some of the lighter vapors of liquid petroleum which are generally deposited upon a reduction of temperature. The usual specific gravity of the natural gas is a little more than half that of common air. From the examination which was made it may be fairly concluded that the gases obtained from the deeper strata are of a higher specific gravity, are richer in the carbon element, and possess greater illuminating power.

A comparison between the "natural gas" and that manufactured from ordinary bituminous coal, for illuminating purposes, is best illustrated by placing in juxtaposition an analysis of each. We have selected the gas from the Leechburg well and the gas from cannel coal.

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