KIMMfiUIDGE SHALE. 181 



900° Fh. yielded per ton an average of 67-25 gallons of ci-ude oil, 

 11-00 gallons liquor containing 6 per cent, of ammonia, equal to 

 275 ounce liquor per gallon, and from 1,118 to 1,1871b. of coke. 

 The latter containing sufficient carbon to work off the shale for oil 

 purposes." And adds : " The crude oil contains some 20 per cent, 

 of naphtha and 3 per cent, of paraffin." 



Another analyst, Dr. Gesner, says the Blackstone yields 50 

 gallons of oil per ton containing 9 per cent, of tar of a specific 

 gravity -910, and that the oil contains a greater number of 

 the equivalents of carbon than those derived from coals or 

 bitumen. 



The company getting into difficulties was dissolved in 1872, and 

 in 1876 a new company was formed to utilise the coke and the 

 residue from the destructive didillation as sanitary and purifying 

 agents under the distinctive name of Sanitary Carbon, possessing 

 deodorising, decolorising, and antiseptic properties similar to 

 those of animal-charcoal and far superior to the coke of ordinary 

 bitumen. 



The value of carbon produced from Bituminous Shale, as 

 comparable with that of animal charcoal, has long been known, 

 for we find in Muspratt (under Boneblack, p. 342) the follow- 

 ing :— 



Substitutes for Bone Charcoal.— Of the subsitutes whicli have 

 been proposed for bone charcoal . . . the best knoivn is that obtaineil 

 from Bituminous Shale. This mineral is constituted, like bone, of an 

 earthy and organic constituent, and yields a similar Charcoal. 



But it is added — 



The rare occurrence of the substance places it beyond the reacli of 

 most manufacturers. 



While shales generally have either a vegetable or mineral 

 origin, that of Blaclidone contains fossilised organic remains, and 

 as carbon is the only ingredient in animal-charcoal which possesses 

 any antiseptic and kindred properties, and the Blackstone yields 

 a preponderating amount of carbon, the value of it in a sanitary 

 point of view was supposed to be very great. 



