126 DR. REDFERN, ON THE TORBANEHILL COAL. 



conclusions before drawn from the examination of the yellow 

 bodies of the coal. 



8th. That circular or anj^ulav-flattened bodies, or spherical 

 ones, from l-500th to 1 -2000th of an inch in diameter, occur 

 in considerable numbers in all sections of the coal, separate or 

 in groups, and resemble free vegetable cells, as spores, pollen 

 grains, &c. 



Other bodies, of all sizes, up to the l-20th of an inch, ap- 

 pearing more or less rounded and tubercular, or pilose, on one 

 surface, as seen on horizontal sections, and linear and bent on 

 vertical ones, appear here and there. Such appearances would 

 be produced bj membranous capsules or cells, tuberculated or 

 pilose on the outside and smooth in their interior. 



9th. That whatever opinions may be entertained as to the 

 interpretation of the appearances presented by this coal, it is 

 impossible, consistently with the facts, to deny that its sec- 

 tions present a remarkably regular arrangement of their parts, 

 quite different on horizontal and vertical sections, and only 

 capable of explanation by supposing it to have been the re- 

 sult of crystallisation, or of animal or vegetable organisation. 

 That the coal is not a mass of crystals, is shown by the ab- 

 sence of the crystalline form, and, to some extent, by the fact 

 that it does not polarise light. Neither its structure nor 

 chemical composition offers the least countenance to the 

 supposition that it is of animal origin ; whilst every par- 

 ticular of its structure, and the fact that it is mainly com- 

 posed of carbon, point to its being a mass of vegetable 

 matter. 



10th, The Torbanehill resembles other cannel coals in its 

 geological position, its lamination, its variable thickness and 

 value in different parts of the seam — in 65^ per cent, of it 

 being carbon ; in burning like a candle when lighted at a 

 flame ; in crackling in the fire ; in containing every chemical 

 ingredient found in other coals, and none but such as exist in 

 them ; in its great gas-giving power ; in possessing a remark- 

 ably regular structure, differing widely on horizontal and ver- 

 tical sections, similar in every essential feature to that existing 

 in other coals, and only capable of explanation on the suppo- 

 sition that it is produced by vegetable tissues ; and in being 

 everywhere full of fossil plants, easily recognised by the 

 naked eye. 



11th. The Torbanehill differs from other cannel coals, — in 

 its colour being lighter; in its streak being lighter in colour 

 and dull ; in its giving out far more gas than any other cannel ; 

 in containing less carbon and more ash than most other coals, 

 and more hydrogen than any known coal ; and in its being 



