Anointing oil

“ In the mean time, artificial oil had begun to be produced in large quantities from different minerals, principally, however, from cannel coal, by the process of destructive distillation. This oil was refined and deodorized, and found to be a valuable illuminator. A spirit of inquiry and investigation was excited. It was ascertained that this artificial oil, the product of distillation, was almost identical in its properties with the natural oil of the valleys—that the latter might be purified and deodorized, and if found in sufficient quantities, prove a source of wealth to the country. ”

“ We may obtain oil from such material, but it is utterly different from any kind of mineral oil, while, on the other hand, by distilling natural bituminous shales, or cannel coal, or peat, we obtain a crude oil almost identical with natural petroleum, and the little difference between the two is perfectly accounted for by the greater rapidity of our methods of distillation as compared with the slow natural process. We may go on approximating more and more nearly to the natural petroleum by distilling more and more slowly. ”

“ They are viscid and of a pale yellow color, lighter than water, and therefore float upon it, and are very combustible. Oils are used for a multiplicity of purposes: for burning in lamps, for making paints and varnishes, preventing the friction of machinery, in making soap, and numerous other processes. Oils are generally divided into fixed and volatile oils; as an example of the first, linseed oil may be selected; of the last, oil of lavender.
Some of the fixed oils are called drying oils, and it is this kind that are used for varnish making ”

“ The stearessence of anise-seed oil absorbed at its liquefying temperature, in the space of two years, 156 times its volume of oxygen gas, and disengaged 26 times its volume of carbonic acid gas. An oil which has begun to experience such an oxidizement is composed of a resin dissolved in the unaltered oil; and the oil may be separated by distilling the solution along with water. To preserve oils in an unchanged state, they must be put in phials, filled to the top, closed with ground glass stopples, and placed in the dark. ”

“ The raw petroleum of different localities differs in each case in the amount of solid paraffins and olefines dissolved in the liquid paraffins. Other substances also are dissolved in it in variable amount—such as benzene, acetylene, camphene and naphthalene. The fact that the oil, when reached by a boring, is often found to be under a considerable pressure, so that it rises and flows from the surface of the well, or even may shoot up as a great fountain, is an important feature in the oil-seeking industry, though the supply depends largely on pumping and not necessarily on natural flow. ”

“ But in that year Mr Young, a chemist at Manchester, discovered that by distilling some petroleum, which he obtained from a spring at Riddings in Derbyshire, he was able to procure a light oil, which he used for burning in lamps, whilst the heavier product which he also obtained proved a most useful lubricant for machinery. This naturally distilled oil was soon found to be similar to that oil which was noticed dripping from the roof of a coal-mine. ”

“ Cracking oil is not a new invention but it is the basis of all the reports and promises from Washington for cheapening gasolene. A heavy crude oil is cracked by being heated to a temperature of eight hundred degrees under pressure with hot steam. Oil of eight and a half gravity is thus converted into an oil of sixteen gravity and will flow like water. In the process oxygen and hydrogen are separated and new chemical compounds are formed so that in reality a new combination produces a new and lighter oil. ”

“ The distillation and rectification of aniline oil is practised on a similar principle to the fractional distillation which we have noticed as being used for the distillation of the naphthas. First, light aniline oils pass over, followed by others, and finally by the heavy oils, or "aniline-tailings." It is a matter of great necessity to those engaged in colour manufacture to apply that quality oil which is best for the production of the colour required. ”

“ What happens at the ordinary temperature slowly goes on rapidly in the steam cylinder, where a new condition is reached. The oils are subjected to the heat of high pressure steam, which dissociates or frees these acids from their base, and in this condition they attack the metal and hence destroy it.
This applies as well to vegetable as to oils of animal origin, fish or sperm oil included. Petroleum and oils derived therefrom (generally called mineral oils) are entirely free from this objection. Petroleum contains no oxygen, and hence it cannot form an acid, and therefore cannot attack metal. ”

“ The fixed oils, except where otherwise directed, are obtained from the bruised or ground fruit or seed, by means of powerful pressure, in screw or hydraulic presses, and are then either allowed to clarify themselves by subsidence or are filtered. Both methods are frequently applied to the same oil. In some cases the impurities are removed by ebullition with water, and subsequent separation of the pure oil. Heat is frequently employed to increase the liquidity of the oil, and thus lessen the difficulty of its expulsion from the mass. ”

“ The washed oil is drawn off to a distillation still, which is a cast iron vessel homogeneously lead coated, 1.5 m. in diameter and 2 m. deep, fitted with a lead heating coil and connected through a spiral lead condenser and receiver to a vacuum pump. The water is distilled from the oil at a pressure of from 62 to 70 mm. absolute pressure. When dried, the oil is sent by vacuum to a mixing vessel, similar in most respects to the washing vessel, in which it is mixed with an appointed quantity of solvent, which, in this factory, was usually chlorobenzene but occasionally carbon tetrachloride. ”

“ The crude oil is allowed to settle for twelve or more hours at a temperature sufficiently high to separate any water that may have passed the test at the retorts, and after this water has been run off, the oil is fed into the centre boiler of a battery of oil boilers. The lightest fraction of the oil—ultimately motor spirit and illuminating oils—is distilled off the feeding boiler and condensed in a coil of cast-iron pipes immersed in water in a tank, cold water being continuously run into the tank, while heated water is run off. ”

“ The quantity of incondensible gas formed is inconsiderable; and it is this result, so different from that obtained in the ordinary gasworks, that marks the great value of Young’s process. The crude oil, a dark-coloured, thick liquid, is then distilled to dryness in large iron cylindrical stills, and is thus freed from the excess of carbon which is left behind as coke. The oil, after distillation, is further purified by being acted upon by strong sulphuric acid (oil of vitriol) , which chars the principal impurities, and causes them to subside in the form of a dense black, heavy acid tar. ”

“ If the oil produces vapor which can be set on fire by means of a flame held a short distance above the surface of the liquid, it is bad. Good oil poured into a tea-cup or on the floor does not easily take fire when a light is brought in contact with it. Poor oil will instantly ignite under the same circumstances, and hence the breaking of a lamp filled with poor oil is always attended by great peril of a conflagration. Not only the safety but also the light-giving qualities of kerosene are greatly enhanced by the removal of these volatile and dangerous oils. ”

“ The use of crude (unrefined) mineral oil in steam boilers is attended by risks caused by impurities and foreign substances mixed with it. These are likely to combine with the earthy matter in the water and tend to form instead of preventing scale; the tar and wax contained in crude petroleum combine with the sediment in steam boilers, and the paste prevents the water from reaching and protecting the plates. This is true particularly in shell boilers which have flat surfaces over the fire. Refined mineral oil has none of these disadvantages. ”

“ The refining of crude oil as it is produced from the earth, consists in the classification of its various hydrocarbons by means of fractional distillation, into the various products which so largely enter into our commercial and domestic life of to-day. The refined products, in the order in which they are received by distillation, are: motor spirit, illuminating oils, solar oils, lubricating oils, fuel oils, residuum, etc.—the first mentioned being the lightest and the last the heaviest in specific gravity. ”

“ Its fuel remains conveniently solid so that it is readily shipped and stored; there is nothing to spill or to break beyond easy repair; but when it is lighted the heat of its flame melts the solid fuel and thus it becomes an "oil-lamp." Animal and vegetable oils were mainly used until the middle of the nineteenth century, when petroleum was produced in sufficient quantities to introduce mineral oils. This marked the beginning of an era of developments in oil-lamps, but these were generally the natural offspring of early developments by Ami Argand. ”

“ The treatment or washing of the oil to remove the impurities that cannot be eliminated by distillation, consists in stirring the oil by compressed air for a given time in an iron vessel, with a fixed quantity of sulphuric acid, allowing it to settle, and running off the heavy mixture of tar and acid which separates. ”

“ Little is known respecting the chemical reactions which take place during the boiling of oil. Even when the air is excluded during the process, the drying properties are greatly increased, and, if boiled long enough, the oil is converted into a solid substance. The loss of weight which ensues is dependent upon the temperature and the time during which the operation continues. It is less when the air is freely admitted than if the pan is covered with a hood. The vapours given off by the oil are of an extremely irritating character, and should be destroyed by passing them through a furnace. ”

“ Cracked oils of good quality are nothing new, but I have never seen them made by one distillation and one treatment. Cracked oils should be finished by distillation, not treatment. A second distillation would enable the refiner to first remove the two volatile products of cracking and the heavy, uncracked portion of the paraffine-oil, besides destroying the sulphur compounds. But such a technology would so far increase the cost of the oil that those employing it could not compete in the market with those who did not, except by virtue of the superior quality of their oil. ”

“ Cheaper oils, as that of turpentine, are recognised by their peculiar odour, which may be developed by rubbing a drop upon the hand and holding it to the fire, or, by the 430dense black smoke with which they burn. The oil of aniseed, as it crystallizes at 50°, is frequently sophisticated with wax, spermaceti, or camphor; the fraud is detected by warming the oil, when the crystals, if genuine, will dissolve. [575] In some cases the refractive power of the oil affords a test of its purity. See my work on Chemistry in its relations to Medicine, § 318. ”

“ Edward Orton, of Ohio, was the most prominent investigator in this field. In all regions where petroleum occurs the strata are not only disturbed, but they are bent into anticlinal or arch-shaped folds. If the rocks are porous the gas tends to collect at the summit of the anticlinal fold or arch, while the oil collects in the flanks of the fold. Salt water is usually associated with the gas and oil, and, being heavier, accumulates in the flanks of the anticlinal or in the neighboring synclinal folds. There is little use of searching for oil in regions where the strata are flat ”

“ By the action of chlorine produced in contact with the oil when, for instance, an aqueous solution of bleaching powder is acidified with a cheap mineral acid, such as dilute sulphuric. In this case rapid mixing and violent agitation are essential to the success of the process, otherwise chlorinised products are retained in the oil, which not only confer upon it a distinct flavour and odour, but also cause the oil to solidify with a very moderate lowering of the normal temperature. It is very questionable whether drying oils can with advantage be submitted to such treatment. ”

“ The light oils which are produced in the refining of petroleum and commonly called gasoline are typical solvents for fat and oil. Instead of extracting the oil by the pressure process, as described above, a practically complete extraction may be secured by successive treatments with the light petroleum oils. The principle of the process is exactly that of the extraction of sugar from sugar beets by hot water in the process of the manufacture of beet sugar. ”

“ After the mixture, the gases must be screened from the light, otherwise the common carburetted hydrogen would also combine with the chlorine, while water and carbonic acid would make their appearance.
The oil employed for affording gas is the crudest and cheapest that can be bought; even the blubber and sediment of whale oil are employed with advantage. After all, however, coal is so much cheaper, and the gas produced from it is now so well purified, that oil and rosin are very little used in gas apparatus. ”

“ Other oils do not grow dry, though they turn thick, become less combustible, and assume an offensive smell. They are then called rancid. In this state, they exhibit an acid reaction, and irritate the fauces when swallowed, in consequence of the presence of a peculiar acid, which may be removed in a great measure by boiling the oil along with water and a little common magnesia for a quarter of an hour, or till it has lost the property of reddening litmus. While oils undergo the above changes, they absorb a quantity of oxygen equal to several times their volume. ”