STEVENSON— INTERRELATIONS OF THE FOSSIL FUELS. 101 



If one may make a suggestion on the basis of these results, it would 

 seem as though mere pressure has had little influence here, for the 

 hard Schieferkohle of Utznach contains much less carbon than 

 is found in some mature recent peats. 



Von Ammon^*^ has published an analysis of Schieferkohle from 

 Grossweil in Bavaria, which, reduced to pure coal, shows : Carbon. 

 60.59; hydrogen, 4.86; oxygen and nitrogen, 34.55. The ash is 8.21. 

 This coal, according to v. Ammon, is to be regarded as an earthy 

 brown coal with inclusion of lignite ("bituminous wood"). It is 

 of the same age as the Utznach Schieferkohle. C. A. Davis has 

 given a long series of analyses from American localities, to which 

 reference will be made in another connection. It suffices here to 

 note than in four samples, with ash varying from 3.84 to 6.69, the 

 carbon varies from 51.8 to 59.5 and the oxygen from 41.4 to 32.6, 

 the determination being on basis of pure coal. 



Peat, according to its age and its place in the deposit, may 

 vary in carbon-content from much less than 50 per cent, in the 

 upper portion to more than 64 per cent, in the mature portion, the 

 calculation being on basis of the pure fuel. The more mature the 

 peat, by so much the more it resembles brown coal in chemical and 

 physical characters. 



Nitrogen is present in all peats, of which analyses have been 

 published. The analyses by F. M. Stanton, which have been tabu- 

 lated by Davis, ^■''° make this clear for the United States. The 

 quantity bears no relation to that of the ash. Peat from Leon 

 county, Florida, has 4.28 of ash and 2.30 of nitrogen, while another 

 from Lake county in the same state, has 21.94 of ash and 2.53 of 

 nitrogen. One from Connecticut with 45.31 of ash has 1.92 of 

 nitrogen, while another, with but 3.98 of ash, has 1.48 of nitrogen. 

 Sulphur is always present, sometimes in sufficient quantity to be 

 utilized. It and nitrogen are original constituents and are not due 

 to the transported matter. 



Study of ash in peat affords some insight into the conditions 



prevailing during growth. The mineral content may be original. 



that is, derived from the plants themselves, or it may have been 



149 L. V. Ammon, " Bayerische Braunkohlen," etc., 191 1, p. 10. 

 15" C. A. Davis, " Uses of Peat," pp. 186-203. 



