66 - REPORT—1862. 
for various economic purposes is well known; and there are certain cases in which 
there is an apparent passage from the shale or schist containing so large a quantity 
of these mineral oils as to burn like fuel, into true coal, which also sometimes con- 
tains a large quantity of hydrogen, and can he distilled for some purposes with ad- 
vantage. The chief object of this paper was to direct attention to some of the 
rocks known among geologists as bituminous schists, 
Two deposits of this kind have long been known in France, and have recently 
been visited by the author,—one between Nantes and Rochelle, in the Bourbon- 
Vendée, the other near the town of Autun, The former are called the Feymoreau 
schists, and they were distilled with success in 1830 for paraffine oil, other light 
burning oils, and lubricating oils, by the method since patented by Mr. Young, 
Owing to the absence of means of communication, the works were suspended ; and 
afterwards M, Selligué, the inventor of the process, carried on similar operations 
with greater success near Autun, where there is now a very large manufacture of 
light oils and paraftine. 
The Feymoreau schists resemble in appearance the rich Torbane Hill mineral of 
Scotland, and resemble both that and Boghead coal very closely, but they cannot 
be used as fuel; they only yield about 15 per cent. of light oils. They are very 
thick, but do not extend far in a horizontal direction. They underlie the coal- 
measures, or rather the productive part of the measures, and almost represent the 
underclay of a poor coal-seam. In this respect also they resemble the Scotch bitu- 
minous shale, 
The Autun schists occur considerably above the highest seam of coal in the coal- 
measures, They are quarried or obtained from drifts, They are thick shales, bearing 
no resemblance whatever to coal, and not in any way capable of being used as fuel. 
The best varieties yield 50 per cent. of oils of all kinds, but others are very poor. 
They are caieratele rich in paraffine. 
The shales of the paper-coal, near Bonn, on the Rhine, are also used for distilling, 
and paraffine is made from them; they have no resemblance whatever to coal, and 
could not be mistaken for it. The lias-shales (Posidonia-schists) in many parts of 
Germany are also distilled for the light oils and paraffine, with some success. 
Bituminous schists of all geological dates, some passing into coal and others hardl 
distinguishable from common clay, thus exist in many parts of the world, and all 
ee in the one important point, that they may be used for obtaining certain valu- 
able products by special treatment. “It is important,” the author concluded, “ that 
such substances should be recognized as a class, and not mixed up with or mistaken 
for coals, and that there should be some understanding among scientific and practical 
men what coal is, and in what it differs from certain minerals containing hydro- 
carbons sometimes associated with it.” 
On a Tertiary Bituminous Coal in Transylvania, with some remarks on the 
Brown Coals of the Danube. By Professor Anstep, F.2,S, 
The deposits of mineral fuel on and near the Danube are, for the most part, lignites 
or brown coal. These are extensive, and have been much used. The fuel burns 
freely, and can be employed for all purposes; but it has two faults. Tt contains a 
large percentage (averaging 15 per cent.) of hygroscopic water, and it falls to powder 
on exposure to air, especially in changeable weather. Itis uneconomical, and cannot 
be stored. These deposits are newer Miocene ; they occur in and with sands not con- 
verted into sandstone, and marly clays not shales. They are generally in lenticular 
masses, unconnected one with another. : 
These lignites do not occur in the smaller mountain-valleys of the Carpathians, 
In their place, in the Zsil valley, is a disturbed deposit, also tertiary, and also con- 
taining mineral fuel; but the fuel is here an accent bituminous coal, and not a 
brown coal. There are twelve well-defined workable beds, one of them varying 
from 30 feet to 50 feet thick, four others 5 feet to 10 feet, and the rest smaller. 
They are associated with good hard coal-grits, shales, and ironstone bands. Two 
e ee serra are well marked by an overlying bed of fossil shells (a species of 
erithium). 
All these coals are nearly free from hygroscopic water, and stand exposure for 
