1898] NATURAL GAS IN SUSSEX 14a 
higher than that at which it was discovered by Mr Willett. The 
foreman of the works made some experiments in piping off the gas. 
No water was discovered, so the boring was closed up and no more 
was thought of it until the same firm of engineers, by order of the 
London and Brighton Railway Company, again made another boring, 
about 100 yards to the south, commencing in the railway cutting 
about 43 feet in depth below the level of the top of the former 
boring. In this boring, but at a greater relative depth, gas was 
first noticed. I say first ‘ noticed,’ because it is now certain that 
gas first began to come into the boring at a higher level, perhaps 
at the same relative level as in the former boring. The rush of gas 
became greater as the depth increased, and when tested at the top 
of the bore-tube with a light by Mr E. Head, the station-master at 
Heathfield, a column of flame sprang up to the height of about 16 
feet, and was with great difficulty extinguished. A certain amount 
of water was discovered, but not sufficient for the Railway Com- 
pany’s purpose, and the boring was abandoned, nearly all the lning 
tubes being withdrawn. Notwithstanding the partial blocks due to 
the falling-in of the sides of the bore-hole and the pressure of a great 
column of accumulated water in the bore-hole, the gas still continues 
to flow from the bore-tube in considerable quantity. It has been 
calculated that the pressure of the gas at its source at the bottom of 
the tube cannot be less than 135 lbs. to the square inch. 
It is perhaps somewhat providential that some obstruction has 
happened to prevent the enormous loss of gas that would have taken 
place had the tube been left entirely open during a period of, now 
nearly two years. The Railway Company have screwed a cap on to 
the end of the tube, with a small half-inch outlet, from which the 
gas has been allowed to flow continuously. 
With the kind permission of the Railway Company, whose officials 
are giving every kind assistance and facility, my friend Mr Lewis, 
C.E., F.S.A., and myself have conducted various interesting experi- 
ments with the gas; and permission was obtained from the Company 
for a demonstration of the gas when used in various burners on the 
occasion of the visit to Heathfield of the Brighton and Sussex Natural 
History and Philosophical Society on June 11. 
Respecting the origin of the gas, we look in vain to the rock- 
details of the boring for information. It is true that certain small 
beds of lignite occurred in the section, but one cannot account for 
the enormous supply and pressure of gas on any theory that the gas 
emanates from these beds. A portion of the lignite in one of the 
beds occurred at the depth of 347 feet (at the junction between 
the Fairlight Clays and the Purbeck Beds), consisting of blue 
sandy marl-rock with bands of lignite, and has been analysed by Dr 
J. T. Hewitt (Professor of Chemistry at the Technical College, East 
