202 



and altogether to obtain ultimate principles. But the daily opera- 

 tions of the gasworks exhibit products showing that nnuch has 

 yet to be done in these analyses to satisfy the increased progress 

 in the science of organic chemistry. My own experience has 

 also led me to the conclusion, that much more remains yet to be 

 accomplished in the study of the internal structure and contents 

 of coal,* and that the vast and varied coal formations of this 

 immense Continent are chiefly to be relied on as the fields for 

 this study. 



The consequences to geology, should the truth of my views be 

 finally sustained, are obviously of importance, with respect to 

 the present opinions on central heat, on the atmospheric state of 

 these early periods, and on other points on which the present is 

 not the proper time to enlarge. 



Dr. C. T. Jackson expressed great interest in Mr. Tesche- 

 macher's investigations, and signified his concurrence in 

 the views advanced by him. 



Dr. C. T. Jackson read a letter from Robert Foulis, Esq. 

 of St. Johns, N. B., addressed to the Corresponding Secre- 

 tary, giving a description, with drawings, of a large Shark 

 recently taken in the Bay of Fimdy, with an account of its 

 capture, as follows : — 



On the 6th of August, 1851, as Captain Helms, of the coast- 

 ing schooner Favorite, was approaching the western entrance to 

 the harbor of St. John, and distant about eight miles, he discovered 

 a large monster fish entangled in a number of fishing nets. As 

 the creature was nearly exhausted with its exertions to get clear 

 of the entanglement, it was easily captured and despatched. On 

 clearing away the nets and bringing the fish along-side the 

 schooner, the animal was found to measure forty feet in length. 



=* On the application of heat, many Anthracites separate into laminae as 

 thin as paper. These are alternate layers of hardened, resinous hydrocar- 

 bon, and of vegetable matter, often retaining in its state of ashes its original 

 forms ; this last is the first burned out, leaving the laminae of the former ex- 

 posed. 



A chemical comparison of the ashes of the vegetable layers, selecting only 

 that part where form permits no doubt, with the ashes of recent plants, par- 

 ticularly of Conifers and Equisetums, would be very interesting. 



