PETROLEUM. BY PAUL SCHWEITZER, PH. D., PROFESSOR OF CHEMISTRY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI. Lecture delivered on the 8th of February, 1879, in the presence of a joint committee of the Legislature, sent to examine into the condition and wants of the University, and written for publication about five months afterward. I consider it a privi LADIES AND GENTLEMEN: lege to be able to occupy this stand to-night, for the 8th of February is a memorable day in the history of our University, of our town and of our state. It has probably escaped the memory of most of you, and I take pleasure in reminding you of it, that to-day is the fortyfirst anniversary of the birth of our University. On the 8th of February, 1839, the bill "to provide for the institution and support of the State University," drawn up and urged by patriotic and far-seeing citizens, became a law by the signature of the Governor. Men in our own midst took an active part in the proceedings, and it was mainly due to their efforts, aided by active co-operation of large-hearted and generous citizens of our county and town, that the University was located here and the law carried into effect without delay. In how far the expectations of the founders of the University, of the fathers of many of you here assembled to-night, have been realized, it is not for me to speak; suffice it, to point to the growing interest in our State University, manifested by press and pulpit, to the fostering care, confidently expected at the hands of our Legislature, and to this audience, willing and anxious to discuss a subject, which from its national importance as well as from the dangers to property and life, surrounding it, claims at the present moment the attention of the citizens of the state, and especially of our Legislature, in session at Jefferson City, and contemplating, I am informed, a change in the law relating to the inspection of Petroleum. HISTORICAL Petroleum, as the name implies, means rock oil, and is the oily, more or less volatile liquid, which exudes at different places on our globe from the rock or ground below, having as such been known and used for different purposes from very early times. It was known to the ancient Egyptians and Assyrians, who obtained it from the valley of the Euphrates and the neighborhood of Baku. It was mentioned 2,000 years ago by Herodotus as occurring on the island of Zante, and later by Pliny and Dioscorides under the name of Sicilian oil as coming from Agrigentum; but to name all the localities, where in the course of time Petroleum was discovered and used, would lead too far, and I will merely state that the earliest mention of its occurrence in our own country was made in 1750 in a report of the commander of Fort Duquesne to General Montcalm, describing the ceremonies of the Seneca Indians on Oil Creek, Pa. Twenty years later Peter Kalm gave a map of the Pennsylvania Oil Springs in his "Travels in North America," published in 1772, and in 1819 oil was obtained by accident,in sinking two salt wells on the Muskinghum river, Ohio, the same thing happening in 1829 at Burkesville, Ky.; in 1833 Prof. Silliman described the |