wells much gas, having a slight odour of sulphuretted hydrogen, accompanies the oil, but the latter is asserted to be free from sulphur. Some of the wells are said to have yielded in undiminished quantity for the past ten years. On the property there is a refinery of considerable capacity, part of which is modern, and the usual commercial products are manufactured. The production on the Pechelbronn property amounted for the year 1892, to 10,400 tons.

On the adjoining Rudolph concessions, drilling was commenced in 1889, and recently the Canadian system has been successfully introduced here by Mr. G. S. Crosbie, a driller who has had considerable experience in the Galician oil fields, a well completed by the system in question this year (1894) giving 70 barrels of oil a day. Mr. Crosbie has informed the author that in some portions of the territory, a compact rock overlies the oil-bearing formation, and that where this is the case, the surface water can be effectually shut off. The oil is apparently met with in quantity usually at a depth of 256 metres. The Rudolph Company have recently erected a refinery at Godramstein.

The Lower Alsace oil deposits evidently lie parallel to the Vosges Mountains, and on the Pechelbronn property, the dip is reported to be from 8 to 9 centimetres per metre.

The Hanoverian oil beds range in age from the Trias to the Tertiary. The petroleum of Schwabweiler is found in sands of the Oligocene division, while that of Oelheim occurs in a sandy clay belonging to the Gault, and, apparently, in the Wealden and Upper Jurassic beds Most of the oil outcrops in Germany are close to asphalt deposits, this being notably the case near the Tegernsee, and in Alsace, where the Limmer asphalt occurs.

Dr. Engler states that the Pechelbronn oil has a specific gravity of 0.878 to 0.885, while that of the Tegernsee district, which otherwise resembles it, has a specific gravity of about 0.812. The latter oil was sold as early as 1436, for medicinal use, under the name of St. Quirinus's Oil. A specimen of petroleum from the wells at Ohlung, on the Rudolph concessions near Hagenau, recently examined in the author's laboratory, had a specific gravity of 0.873, and a flashing point of 37° F. (Abel test). It contained a very considerable proportion of solid hydrocarbons. The oil, which exhibited very little fluorescence, was of black colour by reflected light, but by transmitted light in a thin layer it was dark brown, and it had neither a strong nor a disagreeable odour.

PETROLEUM FIELDS AND DEPOSITS OF MINOR IMPORTANCE.

In addition to the more or less important fields already described, there is a large number of other localities where petroleum occurs, and where, in many cases, it is of considerable local value. Several of these territories have been referred to in the first section of this work, but additional information respecting them will be found in the following pages.

1 Dingler's polytec. Journ., cclxvii., 555 and 592; and cclxviii., 76.

France and Switzerland.-In France and Switzerland, no commercially profitable deposits have yet been found, but petroleum indications occur near Clermont and Grenoble; also at St. Boèz in the Basses Pyrenées, and at Gabian in the Department of Herault. The shale deposits of France are of some importance, as is pointed out in the section describing the shale oil industry. The celebrated asphalt of the Val de Travers occurs in the Department of Ain.

The petroleum indications at Limagne, Puy de Dôme, have been described by M. Alfred Arbaux.1 The plain of Limagne lies between the mountain ranges of Puy de Dôme and Forets, and is watered by the Altier and its tributaries. The uppermost strata are of Miocene age. The overlying bed of humus rests upon calcareous tufa, alluvium, marl and sandstone, with basaltic dykes impregnated with bitumen or viscid petroleum, as at Puy de la Poix, Puy de la Sault, Malintret, Lussat, Coeur, Cebazat, &c. A trench cut in a field at Limagne is filled with water, on the surface of which oil occurs, especially in summer. Wells have been sunk to depths of 42, 50, 60, and 140 metres. At the greatest depth, there was a violent disengagement of gas from a grey marl, so rich in bituminous matter that, when thrown on a fire, it burned briskly with a smoky flame characteristic of petroleum. The following are the results of an analysis made at the École des Mines, Paris, in 1886, of a sample of very thick "liquid bitumen," said to have come from the neighbourhood of Clermont-Ferrand (Puy de Dôme):-Bitumen 89.8 per cent., water 6.95 per cent., ferruginous ash 3.25 per cent.

The deposits of Clermont-Ferrand, Puy de la Poix, Malintret, and Cœur were also examined by Mons. P. Juncker in 1890. The Tramway Company at Clermont-Ferrand sank a water-well to a depth of 165 metres, and found salt water, with which were associated drops of petroleum. At Puy de la Poix, a well was sunk to a depth of 50 metres, at Malintret to 42 metres, and at Cœur to 60 metres, but the work was abandoned for want of funds.

A sample of oil, which was associated with salt water smelling of sulphuretted hydrogen, was taken by M. Juncker at Puy de la Poix. The "bitumen" yielded 52 per cent. of "crude oil." Distillation commenced at 125° C., and was carried to 200° C.

Bituminous sands, resembling those of Pechelbronn, have recently been found by M. Boulangier 2 at Boge, on the western flank of the Credo, above the village of Confort, in the Canton of Collonges (Ain), the outcrop appearing at an altitude of 900 metres. The formation is comprised in the Lower Cretaceous. The experimental workings visited by M. Pochon in September, 1892, consisted of a cross working and several galleries driven into the beds, and a small inclined tunnel following the slope of the principal seam. Three layers have been encountered-one of 1 metre, one of 1.30 metre, and a third of 30 centimetres in thickness, sloping towards the east, and at an angle of

1 Notice sur le Pétrole d'Auvergne, Paris.

2 Pochon, Bull. Soc. Minerale, vii., 1893, 125.

60° to 70°. The surrounding clays are sufficiently firm to render much timbering unnecessary.

The richness of the sands appears to increase with the distance from the outcrop. Near the surface, the sands are brown in colour, but at a depth of 7 metres, they are black and more adherent, by reason of their tarry contents. The infiltrations from the walls of the galleries follow the same rule as regards distance from the surface, the workings presenting a strong resemblance to the Pechelbronn mines, and the similarity is further observed in the character of the impregnating oil, which is blackish, semi-fluid, and (where taken from near the surface) of a density of 0.975.

Spain. In this country, petroleum occurs in several localities. At Huidobro, about 30 miles north of Burgos, numerous surface indications are observable, and a gallery driven for a distance of 56 metres into the side of a hill, has shown the existence of heavy oil in the sandstone which was penetrated. A sample of this oil, examined by the author, was dark reddish-brown in colour by transmitted light, and had a slight and not unpleasant odour. Its specific gravity was 0.921, and its flashing point 270° F. (Abel test). It contained solid hydrocarbons. At Conil, near Cadiz, an outburst of petroleum occurred recently, at a depth of 40 metres in a shaft sunk in mining sulphur. The oil was mingled with water having a disagreeable, sulphuretted odour, and inflammable gas, also of sulphuretted odour, escaped. The outflow continued for three or four days, and from 15 to 20 litres of the oil was collected. A specimen of this oil, received by the author, was of pale reddish-brown colour, and not unpleasant odour. It had a specific gravity of 0.837, and a flashing point of 110° F. (Abel test).

Great Britain. The numerous indications of petroleum observed in the British Islands, have already been described in the previous section.

Norway and Sweden.-Dr L. Meyn1 has reported the occurrence, at Hölle, in Ditmarschen, of a large bed of petroleum, beneath a light diluvial sand 20 feet thick, which is "saturated with tar." Asphalt limestone, resembling that of Seyssel, is also found. The gneiss and mica schists of the Nullaberg, in Western Sweden, are highly charged with black bituminous matter.2

Dalmatia and Albania.-Petroleum is met with in Dalmatia and Albania, and there are considerable deposits of asphalt both on Brazzo Island, on the Dalmatian coast, and at Ragusa, which is adjacent, on the mainland. The neighbourhood of Selenitza, in Albania, contains extensive asphalt deposits, which have been worked from early times, as is shown by the writings of Vitruvius, Strabo, and others. The Albanian deposits have been somewhat fully described by M. Coquand.3

Zante. The tar well of Zante, mentioned by Herodotus, is situated near the south coast, in the valley of Kieri. The well is at the present time a shallow excavation of irregular oval form, about 8 feet by 5 feet in dimensions, filled with clear water to a depth of about 18 inches. 2 Geol. Mag., iv., 160. 3 Bull. Soc. Geol. France, xxv., 20.

1 Journ. Soc. Arts, xxi., 12.

The stones at the bottom are covered with a layer of viscid, black petroleum, and there is a constant formation of bubbles of tar, due to the pressure of the outflowing water. This action is said to be most energetic at the approach of earthquakes. The air in the neighbourhood is strongly impregnated with the odour of petroleum, and the surface of the sea is stated to be covered at times with a film of oil extending up to the coast of Greece. Near the wells, on both sides of the valley of Kieri, are deposits of tar, which the country people amuse themselves by lighting. The material is collected by the fishermen and used in pitching their boats.

In 1871, three artesian wells were bored to a depth which is said not to have exceeded 100 feet. These wells are now covered by the soil, but it is stated that two days after boring had been given up, the casing, which had been sunk to only a short depth, discharged oil to a height of 15 feet, and that the peasants stopped the flow with mortar and stones.

That boring operations were carried out still earlier, is shown by the following extract from Les Mondes, October, 1865 :-“ One well was drilled 300 English feet, and produced about a hogshead daily, which progressively diminished; another was drilled later, that, at the same depth, struck a black, hard, and fœtid limestone, and another was at the side of the marsh, and struck oil at 70 feet, yielding 5,000 litres in seven hours. The latter afterwards became completely sterile and was abandoned, and borings made near the spring in 1865 were not successful."

Further boring has recently been carried on by the water-flush system, worked by manual power, and a depth of about 300 feet has been reached. It is stated that, at a depth of about 250 feet, a soft mud-like stratum was reached which yielded bituminous material and "mineral waters." The bitumen was first of a pitch-like nature, then for a short time it was of a dull golden colour, but this soon again changed to a pitchy nature. The depth at which this flow occurred, appears to have been the same as that at which a well, drilled in 1871 or 1872, yielded a similar material. Below this stratum an excessively hard rock, described as "flint and granite," was encountered, and, owing to the breakage of the drill, work was abandoned.

A specimen of the oil, collected by the author during a recent visit to the island, had a density of 102, while the oil since obtained by the boring operations, a specimen of which the author has also examined, had a specific gravity of 1006. Both samples were of black colour, of tarry character, and had very little odour.

Algeria.--In Algeria, petroleum indications have long been observed in the Arrondissement of Mostaganem, in the Department of Oran. They occur along an E.N.E. and W.S.W. line in the localities named Aïn Dellah, Aïn Zeft (Black Spring), Vieux Jardin, and Aïn Louise. The coast line from Oran to Algiers extends in a general north-easterly direction, but trends to the south-east at Arzew, forming a bay, on the eastern side of which is Mostaganem. A little further to the north east, the River Cheliff flows into the Mediterranean. The