BY LIONEL C. BALL, B.A. 135 



being brownish black in hue and having the following 

 composition : — 



C. 38-91; H., 303; 0. and N., 21-60; S., 2-36; Ash, 

 12-00 ; Moisture (at 100° C), 22-10%3=100. 

 They show that it is mostly found in sandy layers between 

 hard beds of grit (of Silurian age) and also penetrating 

 into cracks and joints in the beds where much shattered. 

 Some years later Mr. Twelvetrees, the present Government 

 Geologist, found on the 800 ft. level in the Moonlight-cum- 

 Wonder mine, lying between grits and limestone, " a peculiar 

 brown earthy carbonaceous (compact bedded) deposit 

 (nine feet wide on one side of the drive) approaching in 

 character to semilignite or brown coal," of which the 

 following proximate analysis is given : — 



Moisture (loss at 212° F.) 38.1% 



Gases, &c. (lost at red heat) 27.0% 



Fixed Carbon 13.9% 



JVIineral Matter (ash) 21.0% 



100.0% 

 To account for the origin of the lignite Messrs. Montgomery 

 and Ward suggested that it had been deposited from 

 percolating swamp waters, that with the organic matter 

 in suspension descended in quite recent geological times 

 from the surface wherever the much shattered strata 

 offered a ready passage. I do not suppose that when they 

 wrote their paper the possibility of the magmatic origin 

 of hydrocarbons had been seriously considered outside of 

 Europe, but the theory has now many staunch supporters 

 in all parts of the world and would seem to fit this case 

 perfectly. The reference* of Mr. W. H. Twelvetrees 

 to recent timber among boulders of conglomerate, 370 ft. 

 beneath the surface in the Eureka Claim, points to former 

 open communication with the surface at that place, but it 

 need not have any bearing on the origin of the lignites. 



APPENDIX II. 



Solid Hydrocarbons in Fissures. 



That various solid hydrocarbons and carbo-hydrates 



fill extensive fiasures is well known. Such are those of 



asphalt in Utah, Cubaf a nd Peru,{ of albertite in 



* See Report on the Moonlight-cum -Wonder Mine at Beaconsfield, 

 Launceston. By Authority, 1902. 



I Economic Geology, Vol. 1, p. 437. 



X Transactions of the American Institute of Mining Engineers 

 BuUetin, No. 27, p. 291. 



