13 



is in the parish of Waldron. The well-known geologist, gi^eon 

 Mantell, who disposed of his geological collection to the British 

 Museum for five thousand pounds, and afterwards received a 

 pension from the Crown, has recorded in his work on the 

 Geology of Sussex, published in 1822, that at Newick Old 

 Park, Waldron, "seams of fibrous coal, resembling that of 

 Bovey," had been discovered, but the thickness and extent of 

 the beds had not been correctly ascertained. Another account 

 states that at Waldron a thin bed of " cannel coal " had been 

 noticed on the banks of a rivulet which separates that parish 

 from He h .4d, the seam being >und to extend for a quarter 



Since Mr. DAWSON'S Paper was written the Gas has been 

 laid on to the Station and Waiting Rooms at Heathfield 

 and has proved a great success. It has been analysed by 

 S. A. WOODHEAD, Esq., B.So. (County Analyst for East Sussex), 

 and its approximate composition is stated by him to be as 

 follows :— 



Per Cent. 



Oxygen 18 



Higher Hydrocarbons 

 Carbon Monoxide 

 Marsh Gas 



Total 



55 



... 1000 



may be indirectly traced to the same source. iNumerous reier- 

 ences to the occurrence of " naphtha" or " liquid bitumen," and 

 even to emanations of natural gas, occur in the early numbers of 

 the " Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society." In the 

 volume for 1684, is a paper by Dr. Robert Plot, in which he 

 expresses the belief that the perpetual lamps said to be found 

 alight in ancient tombs might be formed of a wick of " linum 

 asbestinum," or " salamander wool,"— the material which we 

 now call asbestos,— fed by a natural spring of naphtha such as 

 that of Pitchford, in Shropshire, where, he says, "is a naphtha 

 or liquid bitumen which constantly issues forth with a spring 

 there, and floats on the water." This spring, which is still m 

 existence, at one time (at the beginning of the century) had 

 considerable celebrity, as the oil was distilled and sold as Betton s 



