4 NOTICES OF THE MEETINGS [Jan. 31, 
England]—an Ingot (weighing 324 oz.) and a cup of chemically 
pure Palladium [by Mr. G. Matthey]— Specimens of Printing in 
Colours, by Wood-blocks and Lithography [by Messrs. C. and G. 
Leighton]— Henley’s Magneto-Electric Telegraph, &c. &c. 
WEEKLY EVENING MEETING, 
Friday, January 31. 
W. Pots, Ese. F.R.S. Vice President, Treasurer, in the Chair. 
Proressor BRANDE 
On Peat and its Products. 
REFERRING with commendation to an article entitled “The Irish 
California” in Dickens’s Household Words, No. 41, p. 348, Professor 
Brande disclaimed any purpose of predicting the result of the great 
enterprize which is described in that able paper. He proposed to 
confine himself to a statement of what had been done, and what was 
doing, to make the products of peat commercially valuable. 
A peat bog was described as a superficial stratum of vegetable 
matter, which at different depths is undergoing, or has undergone, 
various stages of change and decomposition. Its superficial appear- 
ance is that of a mass of half-decayed mosses, rushes, heath, and 
grass; the roots having successively died away, though the plants 
continued to vegetate. The mass is ligneous, and imbued with humus 
and humic acid, among other products of slow decay; and the abun- 
dance of moisture pervading the bog affects the character at once of 
the peat and of the district. The upper layers of the bog are usually 
loose and fibrous, and of a pale brown colour. Beneath the surface the 
density is found to increase, sometimes to a greatextent. At last, the 
distinctive characters of the vegetables cease to be discernible, and the 
mass appears nearly homogeneous, and of a dark brown, or blackish 
colour. Trunks of trees, and some curious geological phenomena, 
occasionally present themselves. A peat district may be regarded 
therefore as the consolidated produce of enormous forests and fields 
of vegetation, amounting in the aggregate to millions of acres. 
In Ireland alone ;1,th of the surface is covered by peat bog, which 
if removed would exhibit a soil fit for the operations of agriculture. 
Professor Brande then invited attention to different samples of 
peat taken from the upper, middle, and lower portions of the bog. 
He particularly noticed the tallow peat of the banks of Lough Neagh, 
which, from the brilliant flame attending its combustion, is sometimes 
used as a source of light as well as of heat. 
Peat may be rendered valuable, either 
1. From the charcoal which may be obtained from it ; — or 
