ie iD dirans. Ne Va Ac. Sez. 
DISCUSSION. 
Dr. L. ELSBERG then said that some 20 years ago he was engaged in 
experiments on the subject of converting peat into coal by a more rapid 
process than that occuring in nature. He found that moisture, heat 
and pressure were, as he supposed, the elements which, together with 
time, na ture had employed; and these three factors could and can be 
used really to make a very good coal. On some future occasion he 
would bring specimens of the manufactured coal and of various kinds 
of coal to the Academy, and give an account of these experiments and 
the methods. For a long time his expeziments were futile, because it 
was impossible to makea machine of iron or steel strong enough to 
withstand the pressure which must be applied to the prepared pulp to 
reduce it to coal. By the action of super-heated steam, peat is con- 
verted into a perfectly homogeneous pulp. By passage of this through 
any of the ordinary compressing machines used for making bricks, etc., 
blocks or cylinders are obtained of a substance which, so far as its 
economic uses are concerned, is not inferior to most qualities of 
bituminous coal, for gas or fuel. Every effort was made to render the 
bore perfectly smooth and polished in the cylinder from which the peat 
was finally pressed out, and for this purpose even glass and porcelain 
were employed. However, the peat was found to be so impalpable that 
it was forced into the microscopic pores of the metal, and even of 
porcelain and glass. The peat thus inserted itself in the finest possible 
particles, which acted like wedges, chipping off small pieces from the 
interior of the cylinder. No matter how fine and smooth the bore of 
the cylinder was made, after very beautiful working for a few days, 
gradually this material would insert itself in the microscopical inter- 
stices of the metal, until gradually the working of the machine was 
stopped or an explosion ensued. A great many trials were made and 
much money spent, and finally the enterprise was given up. 
Mr. A. A, JULIEN remarked upon the voluminous literature con- 
nected with the study of peat, and the widely varying results, notwith- 
standing the enormous amount of labor that has been expended. The 
study of this material has been approached by investigators from two 
economic points of view; its relations to agriculture, and its employ- 
ment as fuel. In investigations of the former class the larger number 
of analyses have been ultimate—z. ¢., to determine the carbon, oxygen, 
hydrogen, nitrogen, etc., which make up peat and its allied products. 
This gives very conflicting results ; the slightest possible change in the 
amount of water, the oxidation or dissociation of the material, even 
while during analysis, yielding very'different results even in the hands 
of a single investigator. The other method is approximate, simply in- 
tended for the estimate of the value of coal or peat as applied to the 
