KIMMERIDGE SHALE. 179 



manufactured per month, and the gas was utilised to lieat the 

 furnaces and light the works. 1,U9 tons of the shale were 

 exported to Australia. Xew York, Boston, Brussels, and Dieppe, 

 1,170 the following year. A light iron jetty, designed by Mr. Evan 

 Hopkins, was erected in the year 1859, and a massive stone pier 

 was commenced near the one erected by Sir William Clavell some 

 250 years before. 



The following is an account of the process of distillation : — The 

 retorts were charged with about 5cwt. of shale previously broken 

 into pieces, 2in. square, and the temperature maintained as nearly 

 uniform as possible. The crude oil stood in tanks for 48 hours to 

 let the ammonia water subside, and then passed into a still. The 

 first product was a light oil making over proof 75° ; the second 

 was a heavier oil containing paraffin. 



Dr. Ure gives a more detailed account of these oily products 

 obtained by distillation at a low temperature. No. 1, an offensively 

 smelling dark-brown oiI,suspended in an aqueous liquid,charged with 

 sulphuret hydrogen, carbonic acid, and ammonia ; on being distilled 

 with water and purified it furnishes an oily liquid. No. 2 when 

 purified gives out the odour of the finest varieties of coal-gas and 

 naphtha, and is a mixture of several chemical substances ; when 

 heated with concentrated nitric-acid this oily liquid is divided into 

 two portions, one of which (No. 3) is dissolved by the acid, while 

 the other (No. 4), being insoluble, floats on the surface of the solu- 

 tion as a light colourless oily liquid, resembling in its general 

 character the hydro-carbons of Boghead tar, and of petroleum. 

 No. 3 when mixed with water furnishes a dense heavy 

 yellowish oil with the odour of nitro-benrole. AVhen suffi- 

 ciently purified it is applicable for all the purposes for which 

 benzole is employed — namely, for dissolving India-rubber and gutta- 

 percha, for removing stains from fabrics, preparing varnishes, 

 and making artificial oil of almonds, &c. The tar-like 

 residuum distilled without water at rather a high temperature, 

 gives off other volatile products. The first portion thus 

 obtained is amber-coloured, possessing an offensive sulpliurous 



