Download or read book The Mother Lode Region of California (Classic Reprint) written by William H. Storms and published by . This book was released on 2015-07-21 with total page 176 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Excerpt from The Mother Lode Region of California As a proof of the animal origin of petroleum, it has been stated that pools of petroleum have been found which were filled with live maggots. Many hundreds of pools of petroleum in California have been examined without discovering any maggots or other forms of life in them, although there have been swarms of flies and other insect life in their neighborhood. In the vicinity of pools of petroleum, flies quickly discover and lay their eggs on spoiled or moist foodstuffs, meat, decaying meat, meat broths, dead animals, in manure heaps, etc. Taking into consideration the persistency of flies to deposit their eggs upon anything capable of sustaining the life of their young, it is to be believed that all pools of petroleum would be filled with maggots if flies were present and petroleum was a suitable food for their larvae. Maggots feed upon animal and vegetable tissues and liquids, and not upon their fats and oils. When animal hydrocarbons are deprived of all animal tissues and liquids, they are not molested by flies. Petroleum is also found to be an excellent maggot-killer. There are only four ways of preserving animal remains from decay and putrefaction: first, in a case from which the air has been completely removed and excluded; second, by antiseptic agents; third, subjected to a heat exceeding 100 C.; fourth, subjected to a cold under 0 C. To secure and preserve any quantity of animal remains by any of these four ways, cataclysms of nature must occur. Geology does not show that any large quantity of animals have been inhumed in the earth by cataclysms; even provided animals were buried in this manner, there is sufficient oxygen present to start decay, and, after this has commenced, putrefaction ensues. It is also claimed that the decay of organic matter is not due simply to oxidation, but to the action of organisms, ferments, or enzymes, which attack the organic substances and decompose them into their original elements or into simpler compounds. The ordinary rate at which sedimentary rocks are deposited is too slow to effect the inhumation of animal substances so that they will be excluded from the air and preserved. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works."