Scientific American Supplement, No. 508, September 26, 1885

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Scientific American Supplement, No. 508, September 26, 1885

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September 26, 1885, by Various This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net
Title: Scientific American Supplement, No. 508, September 26, 1885
Author: Various
Release Date: October 3, 2005 [EBook #16792]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN SUPPLEMENT NO. 508

NEW YORK, SEPTEMBER 26, 1885
Scientific American Supplement. Vol. XX., No. 508.
Scientific American established 1845
Scientific American Supplement, $5 a year.
Scientific American and Supplement, $7 a year.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
PAGE I. CHEMISTRY AND METALLURGY.--The Cowles Electric Smelting Process. 5 figures. 8113
On the Electrical Furnace and the Reduction of the Oxides of Boron, Silicon, Aluminum, and other Metals by Carbon.--By EUGENE H. COWLES, ALFRED H. COWLES, and CHARLES F. MABERY. 8112
Chemical Action of Light. 8117
Eutexia.--Cryohydrates.--Eutectic salt alloys and metal alloys. 8117
Chinoline. 8118
Method of Rapid Estimation of Urea. 1 figure. 8118
Assay of Earthenware Glaze. 8112
II. ENGINEERING AND MECHANICS.--Deep Shafts and Deep Mining. 8104
Sinking of the Quievrechain Working Shaft.--Numerous figures. 8108
On the Elementary Principles of the Gas Engine.--An interesting paper read before the Gas Institute by Mr. DENNY LANE, of Cork, and discussion following. 8109
M. MEIZEL'S Reciprocating Exhauster. 8112
Automatic Siphon for Irrigation. 1 figure. 8113
III. ELECTRICITY, TELEGRAPHY, ETC.--Optical Telegraphy.-- Cryptography.--Preservation of Telegrams.--The projector in optical telegraphy.--Use of balloons. 4 figures. 8114
A New Style of Submarine Telegraph. 4 figures. 8115
A New Circuit Cutter. 2 figures. 8115
New Micro Telephonic Apparatus. 5 figures. 8116
Messrs. Kapp and Crompton's Measuring Instruments. 5 figures. 8116
IV. GEOLOGY, ETC.--Permeability of Sand Rock.--By F.H. NEWELL. 8103
The Grotto of Gargas, in the Pyrenees.--Paleontological remains found therein. 2 engravings. 8103
Remarkable Wells and Caverns in Yucatan.--By ALICE D. LE PLONGEON. 8105
V. NATURAL HISTORY.--The Cabbage Butterfly and the Peacock Butterfly. 8105
VI. BOTANY AND HORTICULTURE.--The Bhotan Cypress (Cupressus torulosa).--With engraving. 8106
The Pitcher Plant. 8106
What is a Plant? 8106
Camellias.--Culture of the same. 8106
Aris?ma Fimbriatum.--Leaf, spathe, and floral details.--With engraving. 8107
VII. MISCELLANEOUS.--Striking a Light with Bamboo. 8107
Experiments in Memory. 8107
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PERMEABILITY OF SAND ROCK.
By FREDERICK H. NEWELL, M.E.
Among oil producers, there has been much discussion as to whether the sand rock in which petroleum occurs is of necessity fissured or is still in its original unbroken condition.
The earliest and most natural theory, which for years was indisputed, and is still given by some textbooks, was, that oil wells reached a cavity filled with petroleum.
Within the past few years, however, the opinion has been gaining ground that the oil is stored in the sandrock itself in the minute spaces between the small grains of sand, not entirely filled by cementing material, and that crevices holding and conducting oil are rare, all fissures as a rule being confined to the upper fresh-water bearing rocks of the well. Mr. Carll, in III. Pennsylvania Second Geological Survey, has discussed this subject very fully, and has made estimates of the quantity of oil that the sand rock can hold and deliver into a well; also, T. Sterry Hunt, in his Chemical and Geological Essays, has made deductions as to the petroleum contained in the Niagara limestone that outcrops about Chicago.
While the experiments and conclusions of these geologists go to prove that these rocks are capable of holding the oil, there are on record no facts as to the phenomena of its flow, other than by capillarity, through the rock. To obtain some data of the flow of liquids under pressure through certain oil-bearing stones, series of tests on small pieces were made. These tests were carried on during this spring, and many results quite unlooked for were obtained. When crude oil, kerosene, or water (river or distilled) was forced through the specimens, the pressure being constant, the rate of flow was variable. At first, the amount flowing through was large, then fell off rapidly, and when the flow had diminished to about one-quarter of its original rate, the decrease was very slight, but still continued as long as measurements were made, in some cases for three weeks.
When using crude oil, this result was not surprising, for, as the oil men say, crude oil "paraffines up" a rock, that is, clogs the minute pores by depositing solid paraffine (?); but this so-called paraffining took place, not only with crude oil, but with refined oil, and even with distilled water.
The only explanation as yet is, that liquids flowing under pressure through rock on which they exert little or no dissolving effect, instead of washing out fine particles, tend to dislodge any minute grains of the stone that may not be firmly held by