199 



PROCEEDINGS 



ROYAL SOCIETY OF EDINBURGH. 



VOL. III. 1853-54. No. 44. 



Seventy-First Session. 



Monday, 5th December 1853. 



Sir T. M. BRISBANE, Bart., President, in the Chair. 



The following Communications were read : — 



1. Remarks on the Torbanehill Mineral. By Dr Traill. 



The Torbanehill mineral is so very peculiar that I cannot call it 

 either a bituminous shale or a coal, to both of which it has a con- 

 siderable resemblance. 



After comparing it carefully with a great variety of English and 

 Scottish coals, and with many varieties of bituminous shale, I con- 

 clude that it is a mineral hitherto undescribed by systematic miner- 

 alogists, and propose for it the name of Bitumexite. 



It appears to me to have been formed by the impregnation or 

 injection of shale with liquid bitumen. Its colour is blackish- 

 brown. Its specific gravity = 1 '284. 



I compared it carefully with several specimens of English cannel 

 and common coal, and with thirteen varieties of Scottish parrot or 

 cannel coal, and other coals of this kingdom, from all of which it 

 differed much in mineralogical characters. 



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