Bitumen is, in its various forms, one of the most widel y -distributed of substances, occurring in strata of every geological age, from the lowest Archean rocks to those now in process of deposition, and in greater or less quantity throughout both hemispheres, from Spitzbergen to New Zealand, and from California to Japan.
All these commodities are exported in considerable quantities, besides bitumen, which is obtained from a mine worked by a French III.
The characteristic craft for local service in the immediate environment of Bagdad is the kufa, a circular boat of basket-work covered with bitumen, often of a size sufficient to carry five or six horses and a dozen men.
Hydrocarbons, such as petroleum, bitumen, paraffin, &c., are also found occasionally in coal, but more generally in the associated sandstones and limestones of the Carboniferous formation.
At various points, especially at Hit, and from Hit southward along the edge of the Arabian plateau occur bitumen, naphtha and white petroleum springs, all of which remain undeveloped.
The rate of flow is largely dependent upon the proportion of bitumen it contains, and is of course retarded by mixing it with sand and stone to form what is commonly called asphalt concrete.
It may appear surprising that a body containing 65% of carbon should be so largely made up of gelatinous Algae in a comparatively little altered condition, but the material is rich in bitumen, which seems to have replaced the water contained in the organisms when alive.
At this point we begin to encounter sulphur springs and bitter streams redolent with bitumen, a formation which reaches its climax at Hit, where a small stream (the " river of Ahava " of Ezra viii.
In his Sylva sylvarum (1627), Francis Bacon states that " the original concretion of bitumen is a mixture of a fiery and watery substance," and observes that flame " attracts " the naphtha of Babylon " afar off."
But given time, all such compounds, if they contain enough bitumen to render them water-tight, appear to settle down even at ordinary temperatures as heavy viscous fluids, retaining their fluidity permanently if not exposed to the air.
There are medicinal springs in the town, and deposits of liquid bitumen in the neighbouring hills.
The bitumen which floats to shore is also collected.
Near Hasbeya are bitumen pits let by the government; and to the north, at the source of the Hasbani, the ground is volcanic. Some travellers have attempted to identify Hasbeya with the biblical Baal-Gad or Baal-Hermon.
They are situated in a swamp near the coast village of Chieri, and comprise two basins, with alternate layers of water and bitumen, the lower sheet of water apparently communicating with the sea.
The Sumerians cast the heads of their lions in copper, not always with successful results, and filled them with bitumen and clay (like the image in " Bel and the Dragon," which was " clay within and brass without ") to give them solidity.
226) has shown that success may be attained by a variety of processes, including bichromated gelatin and the old bitumen process, and has investigated the effect of imperfect approximation during the exposure between the prepared plate and the original.
Iannina had previously been one of the chief centres of the Thessalian grain trade; it now exports little except cheese, hides, bitumen and sheepskins to the annual value of about £120,000; the imports, which supply only the local demand for provisions, textile goods, hardware, &c., are worth about double that sum.
The origin of this bitumen is disputed: it was supposed to be derived from subaqueous strata of bituminous marl and rose to the surface when loosened by earthquakes.
It is the vacOa of Dioscorides, and the naphtha, or bitumen liquidum candidum of Pliny.
ELATERITE, also termed Elastic Bitumen and Mineral Caoutchouc, a mineral hydrocarbon, which occurs at Castleton in Derbyshire, in the lead mines of Odin and elsewhere.
That nothing analogous to bitumen exists in coals is proved by the fact that the ordinary solvents for bituminous substances, such as bisulphide of carbon and benzol, have no effect upon them, as would be the case if they contained bitumen soluble in these re-agents.
Bitumen is found at Hit, whence perhaps its name (Babylonian Id in Tukulti Ninib II.'s inscription referred to above), and near the Tigris.2 Climate.
Bitumen and petroleum have been found; graphite is plentiful, and sulphur, salt, saltpetre and lime are also procured.
There are other indications of bitumen, besides those mentioned, in the coast region of eastern Liberia.
A peculiar variety of the last named, called "Blue John," is found only near Castleton; at the same place occurs the remarkable elastic bitumen, "elaterite."
A Russian traveller, Peter Kalm, in his work on America, published in 1748, showed on a map the oil springs of Pennsylvania, and about the same time Raicevich referred to the " liquid bitumen " of Rumania.
A peculiar variety of the last named, called "Blue John," is found only near Castleton; at the same place occurs the remarkable elastic bitumen, "elaterite."
It is, however, now more generally believed that it exists in the breccia of some of the valleys on the west side of the lake, which is washed into the sea and submerged, till the small stones by which it is sunk are loosened and fall out, when the bitumen rises to the surface.
Within the limits of the city itself, on the west bank of the Tigris, are the remains of a quay, first observed by Sir Henry Rawlinson, at a period of low water, in 1849, built of bricks laid in bitumen, and bearing an inscription of Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon.
