126 STEVENSON— INTERRELATIONS OF FOSSIL FUELS. 



high grade ; at least, no note is made anywhere respecting their 

 existence in such coals. 



Cannel has been reported from numerous places. Often it evi- 

 dently is little more than highly carbonaceous mud, forming a faux- 

 toit, faux-mur, or a thick parting, which may be regarded' as roof 

 and floor to the benches which it separates ; but typical cannel is by 

 no means rare. A great cannel lens was seen by Hector and by 

 Campbell in one portion of the BuUer coal field in New Zealand and 

 Denniston has referred to what are clearly localized cannel deposits 

 in coal beds. Hector has given the proximate analysis of the lens as 

 water, 6.20; ash, 3.60; volatile matter, 61.41; fixed carbon, 38.58. 

 Within the United States and western Canada, cannel has been de- 

 scribed from Laramie, Benton and Kootenai horizons. 



Cannel was discovered in the Benton of the Colob field, Utah, 

 by Richardson, whose description shows that it is the lower bench 

 of at least two lenses occurring at the same horizon. The material 

 was studied microscopically by D. White, who recognized it as a 

 typical cannel. At a later date it was studied in detail by Thies- 

 sen,^^° who reported that it has the appearance and characteristics 

 of cannel. Under medium enlargement, the coal is a dark, homo- 

 geneous mass, in which are embedded resinous particles, dark and 

 light, with some large spore exines and cuticles, this embedded ma- 

 terial comprising about one half of the whole. Under higher power, 

 the enclosing material is shown to be like the "groundmass" of 

 other coals, being in largest part a mass of closely packed very thin 

 flattened particles, most of which are spore and pollen exines, with 

 small fragments of cuticles. In great proportion, these are frag- 

 mentary and many are so macerated that they are unrecognizable ; 

 but even in this condition, the color and optical action are the same 

 as in the recognized cuticles and exines. As all intergradations are 

 present, he thinks it reasonable to conclude that the origin is the 

 same. With this is the amorphous substance or binding material 

 as in the debris of lignite. The darker resinous substances are 

 the more abundant and, in color as well as in appearance, they re- 

 semble those of lignite. Many are cylindrical, having retained the 

 shape of resin cells in the wood. Smaller particles enter into the 



130 j^ Thiessen, " Origin of Coal," 1914, pp. 244, 245. 



