American petroleum, or, more exactly, Pennsylvania petroleum, has, I am aware, been taken as a subject for lecture before this iastitution on several occasions already, notably in recent years by Mr. Chas. A. Ashburner, of tile Second Geological Survey of Pennsylvania, and its geology and conditions of production as well as its refining and varied utilizations have been ably described. I am not aware, however, that it has been discussed in comparison ;vith that equally wonderful and more recent production, Russian petroleum. It is my purpose then to describe briefly the conditions of occurrence of these two most important natural products, to note the chemical differences between the two " crudes," the differences of treatment made necessary in consequence, the characters of the respective products, and lastly the present and prospective commercial values of these two gifts of Nature. In speaking of the American field I shall speak, of course, essentially of the Pennsylvania production, for although we have Canadian oil, West Virginia oil, California oil and, prospectively of stilt greater importance, Ohio oil, the great bulk of the crude oil which is refined for illuminating and lubricating purposes, comes from what is called tile Pennsylvania field. The extent and distribution of this oil-producing area is seen on the map (~rojected on the screen~, taken from Mr. Ashburner's paper on the oil regions of Pennsylvania and New York, read before the Halifax Meeting of the American Institute of Mining Engineers, in Septem-Ber, I885 . Since the issue of this map, however, a considerabte development has taken place in the neighborhood of Washington, Pa., so that an additional district, centring about the town of Washington, would have to be added.
The combined area shown on Carll and Ashburner's map, as underlaid by oil-producing sands, is 369 square miles, stretching southwesterly from Alleghany County, N. Y., to Beaver County, Pa., on the Ohio River, the development centring about Bradford, McKean County, Pa.