1898] NA T URAL GA S IN S I r SSEX 1 1 I 



higher than that at which it was discovered by Mr Willett. The 

 foreman of the works made some experiments in piping off the gas. 

 No water was discovered, so the boring was closed up and no more 

 was thought of it until the same firm of engineers, by order of the 

 London and Brighton Railway Company, again made another boring, 

 about 100 yards to the south, commencing in the railway cutting 

 about 43 feet in depth below the level of the top of the former 

 boring. In this boring, but at a greater relative depth, gas was 

 first noticed. I say first ' noticed,' because it is now certain that 

 gas first began to come into the boring at a higher level, perhaps 

 at the same relative level as in the former boring. The rush of gas 

 became greater as the depth increased, and when tested at the top 

 of the bore-tube with a Light bv Mr E. Head, the station-master at 

 Heathfield, a column of flame sprang up to the height of about 16 

 feet, and was with great difficulty extinguished. A certain amount 

 of water was discovered, but not sufficient for the Railway Com- 

 pany's purpose, and the boring was abandoned, nearly all the lining- 

 tubes being withdrawn. Notwithstanding the partial blocks due to 

 the falling-in of the sides of the bore-hole and the pressure of a great 

 column of accumulated water in the bore-hole, the gas still continues 

 to now from the bore-tube in considerable quantity. It has been 

 calculated that the pressure of the gas at its source at the bottom of 

 the tube cannot be less than 135 lbs. to the square inch. 



It is perhaps somewhat providential that some obstruction has 

 happened to prevent the enormous loss of gas that would have taken 

 place had the tube been left entirely open during a period of, now 

 nearly two years. The Railway Company have screwed a cap on to 

 the end of the tube, with a small half-inch outlet, from which the 

 gas has been allowed to flow continuouslv. 



With the kind permission of the Railway Company, whose officials 

 are giving every kind assistance and facility, my friend Mr Lewis, 

 C.E., E.S.A., and myself have conducted various interesting experi- 

 ments with the gas ; and permission was obtained from the Company 

 for a demonstration of the gas when used in various burners on the 

 occasion of the visit to Heathfield of the Brighton and Sussex Natural 

 History and Philosophical Society on June 11. 



Respecting the origin of the gas, we look in vain to the rock- 

 details of the boring for information. It is true that certain small 

 beds of lignite occurred in the section, but one cannot account for 

 the enormous supply and pressure of gas on any theory that the gas 

 emanates from these beds. A portion of the lignite in one of the 

 beds occurred at the depth of 347 feet (at the junction between 

 the Fairlight Clays and the Purbeck Beds), consisting of blue 

 sandy marl-rock with bands of lignite, and has been analysed by Dr 

 J. T. Hewitt (Professor of Chemistry at the Technical College, East 



