temperatures, forming the so-called mineral wax, which exists in many
places in large quantities, is much easier to imagine, in the light of
modern chemical knowledge, than that the fatty acids were at once
split up into the simpler liquid hydrocarbons, to be afterward
condensed into the more complex molecular forms of the solid
substance.

In this way from animal matter are in all probability formed the vast
petroleum deposits, the three substances, adipocere, ozokerite, and
petroleum oil being produced in chronological order, just as lignite,
brown coal and coal are formed by the gradual decomposition of
vegetable remains.

* * * * *




THE ORIGIN OF PETROLEUM.[1]

[Footnote 1: Abstract of a paper read before the British
Association, Cardiff meeting, 1891, Section G.]

By O.C.D. Ross, M.Inst.C.E.


Petroleum is one of the most widely distributed substances in nature,
but the question how it was originally produced has never yet been
satisfactorily determined, and continues a problem for philosophers.
In 1889 the total production exceeded 2,600,000,000 gallons, or about