HARD WICKE'S S CIENCE- G OSSIF. 



227 



A COLLIER'S EXPERIENCE OF SECTION 

 CUTTING. 



WE have much pleasure in laying before our 

 readers tlie following quaint and humorous 

 ■experience of cutting coal sections. Mr. Simms is an 

 old correspondent of Science-Gossip, and known to 

 us as one of the thousands of intelligent worthy men 

 to whom natural science is one of the greatest pleasures 

 of life. 



We may add that the " grey-streaked " coal section 

 to \vhich he refers, a specimen of which was sent us 

 for examination, is crowded with the annuli which 

 usually surround the sporangia of ferns. See illustra- 

 tions of Mr. Mello's article, HyiiieiiophyUuin, fig. S4, 

 p. 124, of Science-Gossip for June last. 



"Many years ago, I had a very ingenious com- 

 panion who, out of some rough lenses he ground and 

 polished, succeeded in making a moderately good 

 microscope. Well, we got some idea that the " Mi- 

 ■crographic Dictionary " contained some information 

 in regard to cutting coal sections. Living on a coaly 

 surface, and having thousands of pieces of coal almost 

 daily through our hands, it was natural to think we 

 should be eager to see this information. So one 

 Friday afternoon it was arranged for my friend to go 

 to Newcastle and get an introduction to the Literary 

 and Philosophical Society, and see for himself what 

 this great book contained. Saturday morning came, 

 and the weather being fine, and the distance to New- 

 castle being about seven miles, my friend, too poor 

 to train, set off to walk, with sixpence in his pocket 

 which I had given him to spend. In little more than 

 four hours he returned home, and was so much over- 

 joyed with the news that he scarcely knew how to tell 

 his story, and had even forgotten to spend his sixpence 

 on the road. We now had the information, but had 

 not any potash. Saturday morning came again, and 

 the rain coming down in torrents, off he goes again to 

 Newcastle, and returned so drenched that the potash 

 and bottle seemed nearly washed away. We selected 

 four pieces of coal, two shiny ones, and the other two 

 pieces very coarse. They were carefully placed in a 

 bottle to remain there for a week ; the week got away 

 and no change took place in the coal, although the 

 razor was ready. This was a sad disappointment to 

 us. The bottle was again put away for a week, and 

 again we were met with a disappointment. The 

 bottle was once more put away for a fortnight, making 

 a month, with no better results. Put away again for 

 a month, and still no alteration. Another month 

 passes away, and still the coal would not cut. Now 

 three months' soaking did not the least affect our 

 pieces of coah So they were put away for three 

 months more. How deeply grieved we were when 

 we found that with six months' soaking the pieces of 

 coal were as hard as when we took them from the 

 .heap. We were now sadly at a loss to know how to 



proceed. Could it be that we were only country 

 hodges ? We again set the bottle to its place for 

 other three months, and a week before the expiration 

 of the time, my friend got a blow in the pit and died 

 in a few days. Our pieces of coal were now thrown 

 into the ash-pit- as useless. Nothing more have I seen 

 of cutting sections of coal until these letters that have 

 appeared in the recent Nos, of Science-Gossip, so 

 your readers will have a good idea how interested I 

 must be on this subject. A few years ago another 

 Microscopic friend of mine met with some grey-look- 

 ing streaks of coal, about one foot from the top of the 

 Low Main Seam in the Newcastle coalfield. Now 

 these grey streaks of coal cut, grind and polish well, 

 and mount easily for the microscope, and when seen 

 under the instrument show a mass of open structure 

 filled with a resinous-looking substance. Enclosed is 

 a section of this coal, and I would like you to describe 

 the section yourself. The coal has never been figured, 

 and I fancy would help to solve the question of coal 

 sections. Now these grey streaks, although taken 

 from the body of coal, cannot be said to be ordinary 

 coal. I still hold that ordinary coal cannot be softened, 

 cut, or sectioned. 



"John Simms." 



MUHLENBERG'S TURTLE [CHELOPUS ; 

 MUHLENBER Gil). 



IN Science-Gossip for February, 1876, I re- 

 marked, that ' ' from my study window I have 

 an unbroken view of a broad expanse of meadow, 

 dotted here and there by single huge hickories, a 

 willow hedge, and margined beyond by the broad 

 expanse of the Delaware River." I might have 

 added, that a weedy creek meanders through the 

 tract, and therein are to be found, not only the fierce 

 snapping turtle, of which I then wrote, but seven 

 other species of strictly aquatic turtles. For the sake 

 of those who desire further particulars, I will enum- 

 erate them. They are Muhlenberg's turtle {Chelopus 

 Muhletibergii) , the Rough-backed turtle (C iuscidp- 

 tits), the Painted turtle [Chiyset/iys picta), the Red- 

 bellied terrapin {Fseudeiiiys ritgosa), the Speckled 

 turtle {Nancniys guttata), the Mud turtle {Cinoster- 

 iniiii Pennsylvaniciim), and, lastly, the Musk turtle 

 {OzotJuca odorata). Certainly, if one is disposed 

 to study the habits of the Testudinata, here is a 

 sufficiency of material ; and I am ashamed to admit 

 that although my opportunities have been so good, 

 I have made so poor a use of them. Of the seven 

 species here mentioned, the first is extremely 

 rare, and almost nothing has been recorded of its 

 habits. In his celebrated monograph on American 

 Testudinata, Agassiz disposes of the species in half-a- 

 dozen lines, having been unable to gather any living 

 specimens. Holbrook, in his North - Americaii 



