petroleous

The fire-damp in coal mines is a highly elastic petroleous effluvia. bursting from deep seams of fatter and less consolidated veins of coaal, by reason of the want of a sufficient resistance or circulation of the common air in such mines.

The evil day may in some cases be staved off by sinking new wells and by the discovery of new territory adjacent to the old, but this can be only a temporary expedient, and as the petroleous glory of Franklin has passed away so will also pass away the gaseous glory of Findlay and Pittsburg.

I ought not to omit to add that this formation in addition to its other peculiarities is characterised by a notable proportion of bitumen, so that a strong petroleous odor is perceptible immediately on the application of the hydrochloric acid and not less so after the subsidence of the effervescence,