4S0 G^<^5 pom the Utica Slate. 



sliale in the red-liot retort was transmitted. To the same vessel 

 a pipe and jet were fixed for burning the gas. Its illuminating 

 power appeared to be greater than that from coal gas, and the 

 lecturer stated that, while the London (England) gas contained 

 on an averao-e not more than from four to six per cent, of the illu- 

 minatin"- principle which is called olefiant gas, and very good gas 

 rarelv possessed more than ten to twelve per cent, of its valuable 

 constituent; this gas from the bituminous shale of Collingwood or 

 Oshawa, held fifteen per cent, of the illuminating principle in the 

 samples of gas which he had made and examined. The shale 

 varies in the amount of bitumen it contains, so that the strength 

 of the gas is not always the same. A valuable property of the 

 Collingwood shale is that it does not swell or expand upon being 

 heated like bituminous coal, so thai a retort may be filled with it, 

 while it is well known, that it is not safe to fill a retort more than 

 two-thirds of its capacity with bitummous coaL The Lecturer 

 considered it possible that the shales of Collingwood and Oshawa 

 may yet become of economic value, for the purposes of gas-lighting. 

 Similar shales, but of very different geological age, are found in 

 great abundance in the valley of the Sydenham and the Thames 

 rivers near Chatham, and throughout the country between lake 

 Huron and lake Erie, drained by those rivers. 



" The geological name of the Collingwood and Oshawa shales was 

 said to be " the Utica slate," and those of the western part of Ca- 

 nada, " the Hamilton shales." 



" The lecturer also exhibited the mode of ascertaining the pre- 

 sence of noxious impurities in illuminating gas, and showed the 

 absence of such impurities in the Toronto gas, by illustrative expe- 

 riments. The tests for sulphuretted hydrogen and sulphuroeus 

 acid, established conclusively that our Toronto gas, as then taken 

 from the pipes in the St. Lawrence Hall, is perfectly free from those 

 noxious impurities. The lecturer further expressed his opinion, 

 that in isolated factories, and even in private tamilies in the coun- 

 try, gas illumination from fat and oil, or other similar substances 

 would soon become by no means uncommon. The apparatus is 

 extremely simple and cheap, and attended with very little trouble, 

 while the cost of lighting a large building or private house, when 

 compared with candles or oil, was very trifling. The only objec- 

 tion that could be urged against its introduction in or near a pri- 

 vate house, was the smell occasioned by the formation of volatile 

 compounds of Carbon and Hydrogen, which chemists had not suc- 

 ceeded in separating by economical processes from common gas. 



« The possibility of the economical manufacture of illuminating 

 gas from our Collingwood, Oshawa, and Western shales, is a very 

 interesting and important question, as many cubic miles of those 

 shales, very rich in bitumen are found in Western Canada. Pro- 

 fessor Hind also stated that the other products of the distillation 

 of the shales, such as oil, tar, and naptha, are iikely tobe valuable. 

 We hope we shall hear more of this subject, and that experiments 

 will be set on foot to ascertain the commercial value of the Cana- 

 dian rocks to which Professor Hind has row called the attention 

 of the members of our flourishing Mechanic's Institute." 



