132 



PROCEEDINGS OF SECTION B. 



No. 1 



It appears doubtful whether much information could be got 

 from making ultimate analyses of the separated constituents of 

 any coal (except in the case of the substance No. 1 below, which I 

 shall examine further), and I have confined myself to determining 

 the hydrocarbons driven off' at a cherry red heat from different 

 materials in the same block of coal. 



In some Newcastle coal, colliery unknown, a piece was separated 

 into jet black bituminous matter which bi'oke easily into more or 

 less cubical fragments, and a dense hard coal with a rather pale 

 lustre. Subjected to heat the bituminous portion fused together 

 forming a swollen bright coke, whilst the other did not fuse but 

 shrank slightly, and gave a coke of the same shape as the original, 

 or nearly so, and silvery. The ratio of volatile matters to fixed 

 carbon was — 



In No. 1 



9 



Volatile. Fixed Carbon. Ash. 



,.1 : 2.012 ... 0.52 per cent. 



..1 : 3.455 ... 9.81 percent. 



The ash in No. 1 was composed almost entirely of ferric oxide, 

 that of No. 2 was greyish. 



A piece of Stockton coal, which is considered one of the best 

 of our Newcastle coals for gas making, similar in appearance to 

 the first, gave — 



Volatile. Fixed Carbon. Ash, 



No. 3 ... 1 : 1.870 ... 1.12 per cent. 



In this case also the ash was almost entirely composed of oxide 

 of iron. This coal is bituminous to such an extent that I could 

 not get enough non-bituminous to examine by itself. 



The coals of our Western districts are mucli less bituminous 

 than in the Northern, and the bituminous matter is in very thin 

 layers. From No. 4, the briglit black portion of a piece of 

 Lithgow Valley coal, and from No. 5 the contiguous dull portion 

 I got— 



Volatile. Fixed Carbon. Ash. 



No. 4 ... 1 : 1.889 ... 1.07 per cent. 



No. 5 ... 1 : 2.248 ... 5.63 per cent. 



No. 4 swelled up and united into a single mass, but did not so 



