imitable abundance for fuel
as the forests fail, petroleum for illuminating purposes will be found
in like profusion.

We have said that the petroleum trade has known no infancy, but has
sprung at once into maturity. The oil wells of Venango County alone
produced, during the first year of their operation, more oil than the
entire product of the whale fisheries during the most favorable and
prosperous year in their history. At the present time, after a lapse of
little more than two years, the daily product of the wells on Oil Creek
alone is computed to be over six thousand barrels. And in this
neighborhood the quantity might be wellnigh doubled, were it not for the
low price the product commands.

Petroleum differs in its characteristics in different localities. It is
usually heavier in the shallow wells than in those that are deeper.
Ordinarily it is of a greenish hue, that changes to a reddish as the oil
becomes lighter and more evaporative. It is all characterized by a
strong and pungent odor peculiar to itself. The gravity of the various
kinds of oil is ascertained by the oleometer. The lighter oils are found
on Oil Creek, and are about 40 deg. to 46 deg. Baume; at Franklin, from 30 deg. to
32 deg..

It is difficult to speak of the uses of petroleum at the present time,
for these uses have not yet been fully developed. In its refined state
it is preeminent as an illuminator. In this character it yields the palm
to gas in matters of convenience and neatness, but is superior to it on
the score of general adaptation and economy. Besides, the quality of the
light is superior to that of gas, being soft, mild, tranquil, and
exceedingly white. In the rural districts, where coal gas is
impracticable, it would be an intolerable calamity to be obliged to
return to the use of the old tallow candle that was the main dependence
in years gone by. As an article of fuel, it has been used to some extent
in the oil regions, but the appliances have been so rude that its use
has not been general. When proper machinery shall have been invented, no
doubt it will be a most important item of fuel in ocean navigation as
well as in railway travel, conducing alike to economy of space and to
ease of manipulation.

In the manufacture of gas it has already been brought into successful
use, both in this country and in England, and has been found most
valuable alike in the quality of the product and in the economy of its
production.

As a me