And

2CaCO_{3}, } { 2CaSO_{4}.H_{2}O

2H_{2}S, } yield { and

2H_{2}O_{2}, } { C_{2}H_{4}, which is _ethylene._

Tables are given showing the formulæ for the homologues of ethylene

and marsh gas resulting from the increase in regular gradation of the

same constituents.

_Formulæ Showing how Ethylene and its Homologues

(C_{n}H_{2}{n}) are Produced by the Action of the Volcanic

Gases H_{2}S and H_{2}O_{2} on Limestone._

Carbonate Sulphureted Peroxide of Ethylene and

of lime. hydrogen. hydrogen. Gypsum. its homologues.

2CaCO3 + 2H2S + 2H2O2 yield 2(CaSO4.H2O) + C2H4 ethylene

(gaseous).

3CaCO3 + 3H2S + 3H2O2 " 3(CaSO4.H2O) + C3H6

4CaCO3 + 4H2S + 4H2O2 " 4(CaSO4.H2O) + C4H8

5CaCO3 + 5H2S + 5H2O2 " 5(CaSO4.H2O) + C5H10

6CaCO3 + 6H2S + 6H2O2 " 6(CaSO4.H2O) + C6H12

Boiling

point.

7CaCO3 + 7H2S + 7H2O2 " 7(CaSO4.H2O) + C7H14 --

8CaCO3 + 8H2S + 8H2O2 " 8(CaSO4.H2O) + C8H16 189°C.

9CaCO3 + 9H2S + 9H2O2 " 9(CaSO4.H2O) + C9H18 136°C.

10CaCO3 + 10H2S + 10H2O2 " 10(CaSO4.H2O) + C10H20 160°C.

11CaCO3 + 11H2S + 11H2O2 " 11(CaSO4.H2O) + C11H22 180°C.

12CaCO3 + 12H2S + 12H2O2 " 12(CaSO4.H2O) + C12H24 196°C.

13CaCO3 + 13H2S + 13H2O2 " 13(CaSO4.H2O) + C13H26 240°C.

14CaCO3 + 14H2S + 14H2O2 " 14(CaSO4.H2O) + C14H28 247°C.

15CaCO3 + 15H2S + 15H2O2 " 15(CaSO4.H2O) + C15H30 --

It is explained that these effects must have occurred, not at periods

of acute volcanic eruptions, but in conditions which maybe, and have

been, observed at the present time, wherever there are active

solfataras or mud volcanoes at work. Descriptions of the action of

solfataras by the late Sir Richard Burton and by a British consul in

Iceland are quoted, and also a paragraph from Lyall's "Principles of

Geology," in which he remarks of the mud volcanoes at Girgenti

(Sicily) that _carbureted hydrogen_ is discharged from them, sometimes

with great violence, and that they are known to have been casting out

water, mixed with mud and _bitumen_, with the same activity as now for

the last fifteen centuries. Probably at all these solfataras, if the

gases traverse limestone, fresh deposits of oil-bearing strata are

accumulating, and the same volcanic action has been occurring during

many successive geological periods and millions of years; so that it

is difficult to conceive limits to the magnitude of the stores of

petroleum which may be awaiting discovery in the subterranean

depths.[2]

[Footnote 2: Professor J. Le Conte, when presiding recently at the

International Geological Congress at Washington, mentioned that in

the United States extensive lava floods have been observed,

covering areas from 10,000 to 100,000 square miles in extent and

from 2,000 to 4,000 feet deep. We have similar lava flows and

ashes in the North of England, in Scotland, and in Ireland,

varying from 3,000 to 6,000 feet in depth. In the Lake District

they are nearly 12,000 feet deep. Solfataras are active during the

intermediate, or so-called "dormant," periods which occur between

acute volcanic eruptions.]

Gypsum may also be an indication of oil-bearing strata, for the

substitution in limestone of sulphuric for carbonic acid can only be

accounted for by the action of these hot sulphurous gases. Gypsum is

found extensively in the petroleum districts of the United States, and

it underlies the rock salt beds at Middlesboro, where, on being

pierced, it has given passage to oil gas, which issues abundantly,

mixed with brine, from a great depth.

III. Besides the space occupied by "natural gas," which is very

extensive, 17,000 million gallons of petroleum have been raised in

America since 1860, and that quantity must have occupied more than

100,000,000 cubic yards, a space equal to a subterranean cavern 100

yards wide by 20 feet deep, and 82 miles in length, and it is

suggested that beds of "porous sandstone" could hardly have contained

so much; while vast receptacles may exist, carved by volcanic water

out of former beds of rock salt adjoining the limestone, which would

account for the brine that usually accompanies petroleum. It is

further suggested that when no such vacant spaces were available, the

hydrocarbon vapors would be absorbed into, and condensed in,

contiguous clays and shales, and perhaps also in beds of coal, only

partially consolidated at the time.

There is an extensive bituminous limestone formation in Persia,

containing 20 per cent. of bitumen, and the theory elaborated in the

paper would account for bitumen and oil having been found in Canada

and Tennessee embedded in limestone, which fact is cited by Mr.

Peckham as favoring his belief that some petroleums are a "product of

the decomposition of animal remains."

Above all, this theory accounts for the many varieties in the chemical

composition of paraffin oils in accordance with ordinary operations of

nature during successive geological periods.--_Chem. News._

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