1. To Trans. N. Y. Ac. Sci. 



DISCUSSION. 



Dr. L. Elsberg then said that some 20 years ago he was engaged in 

 experiments on the subject of converting peat into coal by a more rapid 

 process than that occuring in nature. He found that moisture, heat 

 and pressure were, as he supposed, the elements which, together with 

 time, na tare had employed ; and these three factors could and can be 

 used really to make a very good coal. On some future occasion he 

 would bring specimens of the manufactured coal and of various kinds 

 of coal to the Academy, and give an account of these experiments and 

 the methods. For a long time his experiments were futile, because it 

 was impossible to make a machine of iron or steel strong enough to 

 withstand the pressure which must be applied to the prepared pulp to 

 reduce it to coal. By the action of super-heated steam, peat is con- 

 verted into a perfectly homogeneous pulp. By passage of this through 

 any of the ordinary compressing machines used for making bricks, etc., 

 blocks or cylinders are obtained of a substance which, so far as its 

 economic uses are concerned, is not inferior to most qualities of 

 bituminous coal, for gas or fuel. Every effort was made to render the 

 bore perfectly smooth and polished in the cylinder from which the peat 

 was Hnally pressed out, and for this purpose even glass and porcelain 

 -were employed. However, the peat was found to be so impalpable that 

 it was forced into the microscopic pores of the metal, and even of 

 porcelain and glass. The peat thus inserted itself in the finest possible 

 particles, which acted like wedges, chipping off small pieces from the 

 interior of the cylinder. No matter how fine and smooth the bore of 

 the cylinder was made, after very beautiful working for a few days, 

 gradually this material would insert itself in the microscopical inter- 

 stices of the metal, until gradually the working of the machine was 

 stopped or an explosion ensued. A great many trials were made and 

 much money spent, and finally the enterprise was given up. 



Mr. a. a. JuliExV remarked upon the voluminous literature con- 

 nected with the study of peat, and the widely varying resuhs, notwith- 

 standing the enormous amount of labor that has been expended. The 

 study of this material has been approached by investigators from two 

 economic points of view ; its relations to agriculture, and its employ- 

 ment as fuel. In investigations of the former class the larger number 

 of analyses have been ultimate — /. <?., to determine the carbon, oxygen, 

 hydrogen, nitrogen, etc., which make up peat and its allied products. 

 This gives very conflicting results ; the slightest possible change in the 

 amount of water, the oxidation or dissociation of the material, even 

 while during analysis, yielding very' different results even in the hands 

 of a single investigator. The other method is approximate, simply in- 

 tended for the estimate of the value of coal or peat as applied to the 



