GEOLOGY. 



307 



likely that upon each discovery of these a ' new edition ' of a ' coal 

 report ' is emitted. Whilst Col. Mason was in command in California, 

 he considered the subject so important that ' he directed the late 

 Capt. Warner to visit and examine every locality in which coal was 

 reported to exist,' up to about the middle of 1848. It appears that 

 every one of these ' numerous beds of coal of the best quality for 

 steaming ' proved to be either lignite, or bitumen, or something still 

 further removed from the character of coal. The lignites, in most 

 cases, were but fragments of trees, or single trees only. There is an 

 ample coal formation on Vancouver's Island, and others on the conti- 

 nent further north. It is to that quarter that California must look, 

 unless Oregon may produce it. As far as I can learn, all the reported 

 coal-beds on the coast are of the character above described." 



A seam discovered by Lieut. Talbot on the Celeetz, in Oregon, proves 

 to be lignite. 



ASPHALTTJM FROM NEW BRUNSWICK. 



AT a meeting of the Boston Society of Natural History, April 17, 

 Dr. C. T. Jackson called the attention of the members to a new lo- 

 cality of asphaltum recently discovered in Dorchester, New Bruns- 

 wick. It occurs in a bed from four to six feet in thickness, and, if 

 continuous for any extent, must furnish a vast amount of most valuable 

 fuel. The asphaltum is a very beautiful variety, jet black, glossy, 

 and free from smut. It breaks with a broad conchoidal fracture, like 

 obsidian, and presents a brilliant surface. It is a little softer than 

 rock salt, which scratches its surface. Its specific gravity is 1.007. 

 It softens and melts when exposed to heat in close vessels. When 

 inflamed it does not run. but burns freely with a bright, yellow flame, 

 and a little smoke. Heated in a glass flask, it gives off an abundance 

 of bituminous liquid analogous to petroleum, and leaves a very light 

 and bulky coke, of a brilliant black color, and very porous. When 

 exposed to heat in a covered platinum crucible, an abundance of car- 

 buretted hydrogen gas is given off, which burns with a large and bril- 

 liant yellow flame, having a high illuminating power. Two analyses 

 gave an average of 59 per cent, volatile matter to 41 of coke. As- 

 phaltum is particularly valuable for the production of gas for illumi- 

 nation. It is also the best fuel for steam-engines, and is particularly 

 well adapted for the use of locomotives on railroads. The asphaltum 

 in question has been used with great success at the Boston Gas Works. 

 Its geological position was stated by Dr. Jackson to be above the coal 

 formation of New Brunswick. 



THE KOH-I-NOOR, OR GREAT EAST INDIA DIAMOND. 



DURING the past year, the celebrated diamond of the East Indies, 

 known as the Koh-i-noor, which had by the right of conquest fallen 

 into the possession of the British government, has been transferred to 

 England. The history of this splendid gem is as follows : It was 

 discovered in the year 1550, before the establishment of the Mogul dy- 



