Page:EB1922 - Volume 32.djvu/90

72 fessor of classics at Edinburgh. In 1882 he was made first principal of the newly founded University College at Dundee, but in 1895 he was appointed principal and professor of classics at McGill University, Canada. During his 24 years' tenure of this important position the university greatly progressed, and the scientific faculties in particular advanced considerably. In 1915 he was made K.C.M.G. In 1919 he was incapacitated by a stroke, and resigned his position, and being taken to England died at Hampstead Jan. 4 1921.

Sir William Peterson was for some years chairman of the Carnegie foundation for the advancement of teaching in America. His pub- lished works include editions of Quintilian's Institutes of Oratory (1891); the Dialogue on Orators of Tacitus (1893 and 1914); the Speech of Cicero for Cluentius (1895 and 1899); the Cluni MS. of Cicero (1901) and Cicero's Verrine Orations (1907); besides Cana- dian Essays and Addresses (1915).

PETROLEUM (see 21.316*). Under the stimulus of increased consumption and many new uses for petroleum products, the search for petroleum both in the older producing countries and in new territories, often remote from civilization, was rewarded by important extensions and discoveries and, in many instances, by subsequent development, with the result that between the years 1908 and 1920 the world's petroleum production more than doubled. The increase is shown in the following table from the U.S. Geological Survey:

World's Production.

Barrels of 42

U.S. Gal.

1908

285,552,746

1915

427,740,129

1909

298,616,405

1916

459,4 ".737

1910

327,937,629

1917

508,687,302

1911

344. '74-355

1918

514,729,354

1912

352,446,598

1919

544,885,000

1913

383,547.399

1920

694,854,000

1914

403,745,652

In the period 1908-21 many prolific fields in the United States were developed, enabling that country to keep its preemi- nent position; Mexico grew from unimportance to second posi- tion; Argentina, Venezuela, Trinidad, Egypt and Persia devel- oped production of commercial importance; Russia added the Maikop and Ural-Caspian fields, and Japan the Akita prefec- ture. In 1920 the United States produced 63-8% of the world's output, and up to the end of that year had produced 62-1 % of the world's total commercial yield. The rank of the vari- ous petroleum-producing countries is shown in the table given below:

NORTH AMERICA

United States. Petroleum production in the United States in 1920 totalled 443,402,000 barrels. The following table from the U.S. Geological Survey gives the production of the important divi- sions in 1920 and in 1908, stated in bar. of 42 U.S. gallons :

1920

1908

Appalachian

30,511,000

24,945,517

California. Lima-Indiana Rocky Mountain

105,668,000 3,059,000 I7,5i7,ooo

44.854,737 10,032,305 397.428

Illinois Mid-Continent

10,772,000 249,074,000

33,686,238 48,823,747

Gulf

26,801,000

15,772,137

Others

15,246

Total ....

443,402,000

178,527,355

The Appalachian area extends across the Appalachian Plateaus from south-western New York to Tennessee. It includes Kentucky, W. Virginia, Pennsylvania, New York and eastern Ohio. Oil and gas sands occur throughout a long stratigraphic interval, including rocks ranging in age from Ordovician to Carboniferous. Petroleum from the Appalachian area is a high-grade paraffin oil, the average gravity being about 45 Baum6 (0-8,000 sp.gr.). The average for Kentucky is not quite so high. The Appalachian district is the oldest oil-producing area in the United States (see 21.317), and while a gradual decrease in its production from 1912 was shown, high prices and great demand resulted in substantial increases in 1919 and 1920. That the rate of decline was so slow is due to the remarkable thrift of small producers who have found it profitable to operate leases where production is one-sixth of a barrel a day and sometimes even less. A factor which has tended to revive and increase production in certain Pennsylvania districts is the so-called "water drive," by which water pressure is put on the rock to supplement the exhausted gas pressure. An instance of the result of the water drive is shown by figures of an eastern pipe-line attached to nearly 18,000 wells in the Bradford and Allegheny pools; this line in 1909 ran 1,531,000 bar. ; in 1913 1,267,000 bar., a decrease of over 17%; and in 1920 the amount had risen again to about 1,568,000 bar., showing an increase in eight years of 23-8 per cent.

The Lima-Indiana field covers north-western Ohio and north- eastern Indiana, the oil being obtained from lenses or discontinuous layers in Trenton limestone. The average gravity is about 39 Baumd (0-8,285 sp.gr.), although some of the oil is much heavier. The Lima-Indiana field is steadily declining.

The principal productive area in the Illinois field is in the south- eastern part of the state, but there are also small scattered pools in central and western Illinois. Most of the oil is obtained from beds of sandstone in the Pennsylvania and Mississippian series of the Carboniferous system. In gravity the oils range from 27 to 37 Baum6 (0-8,917 to 0-8,383 sp.gr.). This field is also declining.

In the period between 1908 and 1921, the greatest increases in production in the United States occurred in the mid-continent field, embracing Oklahoma, Kansas, northern and central Texas, northern Louisiana and southern Arkansas. In 1920 the mid-continent field

United States Geological Survey World Production of Petroleum.

Country

Production, 1920

Total production, 1857-1920

Barrels of 42 U.S. gal.

Metric tons

Cubic meters

Per cent of total by volume

Date of First Produc- tion

Barrels of 42 U.S. gal.

Metric tons

Cubic meters

Percent of total by volume

United States.

443,402,000

62,188,000

70,492,000

63-8

1859

5,429,693,000

729,640,000

863,213,000

62-1

Mexico

163,540,000

24,410,000

26,000,000

23-5

1901

536,524,000

80,047,000

85,287,000

6-1

Russia

25,429,600

3471.130

4,042,800

3-6

1863

1,904,021,000

252,072,000

302,701,000

21-8

Dutch East Indies.

17,529,210

2,365,347

2,786,840

2-5

1893

219,584,000

29(690,000

34,910,000

2-5

Persia

12,352,655

1,685,219

1,963,825

1-8

1908

48,070,000

6,558,000

7,642,000

5

India ....

7,500,000

1,000,000

1,192,000

i-i

1889

122,583,000

16,343,000

19,488,000

1-4

Rumania.

7.435.344

1,034,123

1,182,110

i-i

1859

165,462,000

23,013,000

26,305,000

1-9

Poland (Galicia)

5,606,116

764,818

891,260

8

1874

171,263,000

23,700,000

27,228,000

2-O

Peru ....

2,816,649

373,280

447,797

4

1896

29,797,000

3,968,000

4,737,000

Japan and Formosa

2,139.777

285,076

340,180

3

1875

42,810,000

5,708,000

6,806,000

Trinidad. . t

2,083,027

289,712

33i,i6o

3

1908

11,356,000

1,580,000

i ,805,000

Argentina.

1,665,989

242,502

264,859

2

1911

7,225,000

i ,043,000

1,149,000

Egypt

i ,042,000

152,120

165,660

2

1907

6,990,000

1,017,000

1, 111,000

British Borneo

(Sarawak)

1,015,949

146,285

161,516

2

4,052,000

584,000

644,000

Venezuela.

456,996

69,539

72,653

1913

1,335,000

203,000

212,000

1-7

France (Alsace)

388,700

54,900

61,800

1880

723,000

102,000

115,000

Germany.

212,046

29,950

33,7"

1880

17,120,000

2,318,000

2,722,000

Canada

196,937

26,258

31,310

2

1862

24,864,000

3,315,000

3,953,000

Italy ....

34,180

4,750

5,434

1860

1,042,000

148,000

166,000

Algeria

3.916

609

623

1915

37,000

6,000

6,000

England Other Countries

2,909

382

462

1919

5,000 416.000

\ 56,000

67,000

,

Total ....

694.854.000

98,594.000

1 10.468.000

IOO-O

8,744,972,000

i, 1 8 1 , 1 1 1 ,000

1,390,267,000

IOO-0


 * These figures indicate the volume and page number of the previous article.