GEOLOGY. 



305 



the green to a dirty white. When its temperature is raised to a little 

 below redness, it phosphoresces with a fine emerald-green light. It 

 is dull and opaque; hardness, 4; sp. gr. 3.06. Composition, phos- 

 phate of lime, 92.85; oxide of iron and alumina, 5.20; silica, 0.50; 

 water, 1.50 ; fluoric acid, traces. Like the phosphate of lime in New 

 Jersey, it occurs in a regular vein in gneiss, and is associated with 

 primary limestone and a greenstone dike, which also contains phos- 

 phoric acid. The direction of the vein is nearly east and west ; dip 

 north at a high angle. This phosphate has been tried by Dr. Em- 

 mons upon land with great success. Editors. 



COAL AND OTHER FOSSIL FUELS 



AT the meeting of the Geological Society, on March 13, a letter 

 was read from the Foreign Office, announcing the discovery of coal in 

 the district of Oltoo, thirteen hours distant from Erzeroom, Asia 

 Minor. The coal is slaty and not of prime quality, containing con- 

 siderable sulphur. London Literary Gazette, March. 



An interesting discovery has been made in Russia, between Dorpat 

 and Norva, of a combustible as carboniferous and calefactory as coal. 

 It is of a yellowish-brown color, with white spots, and is the subject 

 of much speculation, being said to be of a much earlier geological 

 period than any known coal-field. London Mining Journal, Aug. 31. 



ASHES OF ANTHRACITE COAL. 



THE following communication was read at the meeting of the Amer- 

 ican Association, at New Haven, by Mr. J. B. Bunce : Coal, now 

 so common an article of fuel in all our cities, leaves but a small quan- 

 tity of ashes; yet when we take into account the number of tons con- 

 sumed in a single year, this amount becomes very considerable ; hence, 

 it is a matter of interest to know whether it can be considered of 

 economical value. With this purpose in view, two samples of coal 

 were selected, the white and red ash varieties, and the quantities solu- 

 ble both in water and acid determined, with the following results, 

 viz. : 



White ash, in water, 

 " " in acid, , 



3.74 



Red ash, in water, 

 " " in acid, . 



3.35 



18.65 



. . 17.07 



The following analysis is the mean of two determinations of the 

 portion soluble in acid : 



White Ash. 



Soluble silica, 

 Alumina, 

 Iron, . 

 Lime, 

 Magnesia 



.796 



35.201 



29.643 



18.655 



1.730 



The results obtained in these two analyses seem to justify the ex- 



26* 



