Mr. A. Dick's Analysis of the Cleveland Iron Ore. 481 



the purpose of obtaining the black peaty mud forming the bottom 

 and using it as manure. This black mud is in parts above 20 feet 

 In depthrand may be described as vegetable matter in a more com- 

 Sete^tate of deccmposition than ordinary peat. At a depth of 

 about ^15 feet in this peaty deposit occurs a distinct horizontal layer 

 of compressed but undecayed moss, from 2 to 6 inches thick. 1 he 

 Iss^ sufficiently well preserved to be recognized as the i7y/.««m 

 Si. common in bogs and pools throughout the British Isles, and 

 otn growing in dense masses in shallow water. The bed of moss 

 •fof c^onsidefable extent, though not occuiTing everywhere wrthm 

 the area of the mere. While wet and fresh it is of a bright rusty- 

 red colour, and turns to a yellow-brown when dry. Numerous horns 

 of the Red Deer were found in the peat above the moss-bed, and 

 seldom at a greater depth than 5 or 6 feet from the surface ; many 

 of the antlers were of large size, and some appeared to have beer^ 

 cut with a saw. Tlie black peaty mud beneath the moss is identical 

 with the upper portion, and rests on a light grey sandy marl No 

 shells were observed ; but trunks of trees, probably birch and oak 

 are found. Local seams of sand occur, and occasional stones ot Hint 

 and quartz, resembling the gravel of the country, /um^us po^ts 

 of oak-wood, shaped and pomted, were also found standmg erect, 

 and covered up by the peat. From the above facts it appears that, 

 a great part o/the^ppei peaty mud having been accumulated before 

 thf Red Deer became extinct in this part of England, the moss-bed 

 Lust consequently have been formed at least some centuries ago ; 

 and that, although the few mosses experimented upon by Dr- Lmd ey 

 decomposed rapfdly, yet the aquatic mosses, judging from the fossil 

 beS of moss above described, are not rapidly destroyed by exposure 

 to moisture, and that some other explanation must be sought for to 

 account for the great want of Musci in the strata deposited in former 

 geological periods. 



4 •' Analysis of the Cleveland Iron Ore." By A. Dick, Esq.. 

 Metallurgical Laboratory, School of iMines. Communicated by 

 Dr. Percy, F.G.S. ,^r^on 



The ore was weighed after drying at 100 C. 



Protoxide of iron 39-92 



Peroxide of iron ^ ^^ 



Protoxide of manganese 0-95 



Alumina ^^^^ 



Lime 



Magnesia ^«^ 



Potash Itl 



Carbonic acid ^- °J 



Phosphoric acid 1"°^ 



Silica, soluble in hydrochloric acid v'l^ 



Sulphuric acid t^a^^ 



Bisulphide of iron (iron-pyrites) 0' 1 i 



Water in combination "'^' 



Organic matter • • • t""^^^ 



Residue, insoluble in hydrochloric acid. . rb4 



100-41 



