Petroleum and Gold.
As one of the leading staples of American export, our petroleum wells have been more valuable than gold mines. A recent discovery by Mr. John Turnbridge, of Newark, N. J., indicates that in some cases petroleum wells may be in fact, as well as in effect, real gold mines. He says that while investigating the peculiar behavior of the hydrocarbons and their singular quality of separating the precious metals from aqueous solutions, assisted by constant application that furnished evidence of the force of chemical action which could be satisfactorily measured, there occurred to him the probability that analogous effects might be traced in the operations of nature; more particularly in certain geological formations peculiar to auriferous soils. These ideas, he asserts, have been singularly verified in subsequent research by the discovery of gold in many samples of crude petroleum, also in the sediment or refuse of the distillation of that substance. The attraction existing between the hydrocarbons and many elementary bodies ought to create no surprise, especially if reference is had to the reducing action of the hydrocarbons in contact with metallic solutions. The procedure in the examples above referred to consist in pouring crude petroleum on vegetable fiber or wood shavings and firing it, collecting the ashes and making the usual fire assay. The cupel disclosed a small pellet. After due examination with the appropriate test it was found to be pure gold. The distillery refuse when assayed gave $34.85 value per ton. It may be mentioned in the last case considerable molybdenum was present, a substance resembling plumbago. Mr. Turnbridge has no knowledge of the locality whence these samples of crude petroleum were originally obtained. He infers, however, that oil wells in the vicinity of auriferous deposits may yield a larger quantity of gold than from oil wells situated in carboniferous strata. There has been, he states, a practical application of this discovery for the recovery of gold, applied in cases where quicksilver has failed to be of service.
