1879.] NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA. 41 



borhood of Vincenttown. It seems tliat this peculiar hydrocarbon 

 had not been observed in the State of New Jersey before ; at least no 

 mention of it is made in the Geological Reports up to 1808. The 

 specimen presented to the Academy had attached on one side a 

 layer of the marl in which it was found. As the material in ques- 

 tion is properly considered a mixture of various hydrocarbons, it 

 seems to be obvious that the properties vary according to the 

 predominance of one or the other substance contained therein. 

 This kind is very brittle, black, with a resinous lustre. Its frac- 

 ture is uneven, inclined to conchoidal ; the streak and powder 

 appear brown. It melts easily in the flame, like wax, and burns 

 with a yellow smoky flame, leaving, after burning, a voluminous 

 coal and but little ashes. In water, alcohol, and solution of caus- 

 tic potassa, it is not soluble. It dissolves in chloroform and in 

 oil of turpentine. In ether it dissolves with difficulty, forming a 

 yellowish brown solution by transmitted and a dirty greenish so- 

 lution by reflected light. Oil of vitriol dissolves it into a black 

 liquor, which, when poured into water, shows that a part of the 

 substance is retained in solution, whilst another subsides as a dark 

 colored powder. Nitric acid reacts on the substance at an elevated 

 temperature, forming therewith soluble products of oxidation. 



Not far from the pit from which the asphaltum had been ob- 

 tained, a specimen of yellow mineral resin was found. It occurs 

 frequently in the marl of the cretaceous formation, but not regu- 

 larly ; sometimes hundreds of tons may be looked over without 

 finding a single piece ; at other times enough has been found to 

 fill a barrel within a day. It is usually known under the name of 

 amber or succinite. 



It differed in several particulars from the typical amber found 

 at the bottom and on the coast of the Baltic Sea. Our specimen 

 is lighter than water, whilst the amber from the Baltic is specifi- 

 cally heavier. The latter fuses into a thick sluggish fluid, the 

 Vincenttown amber into a very fluid mobile liquid; the cohesion 

 of the Baltic product is stronger than in the specimen in question. 

 These differences indicate its analogy to the variety of succinite 

 called Krantzite by C. Bergeman, who reported its occurrence 

 near Nieuberg, Germany. 



It melts on heated platinum foil into a brown liquid, which 

 runs like water. It takes fire easily, and burns with a yellowish, 

 strongly smoking flame, leaving but little coal, which rapidly 

 burns away and leaves a small quantit} 7 of dark colored ashes as 

 a residue. Heated in a closed tube it melts and vaporizes into a 

 gray cloud, which condenses easily to an oily liquid and some 

 small crystals, which are probably succinic acid. The odor of the 

 fumes is strongly penetrating, like acrolein. In water, alcohol, 

 or ether, it seems to be but sparingly soluble. In chloroform, 

 bisulphide of carbon, and in oil of turpentine, it dissolves freely. 

 Oil of vitriol makes with it a red solution. Cold nitric acid seems 



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