Moss — On an Irish Specimen of Dopplerite. 95 



referred to by the same authority. Two interesting occurrences 

 of dopplerite are mentioned by Dr. Immendorff as having been 

 brought under his notice by Dr. 0. Weber. In one case dopplerite 

 of a tarry semi-fluid consistency was found filling small fissures in 

 the boggy sand close to a stone tomb nearWesterwanna in Hadeln. 

 In the other case a funeral urn was found in a peat bog by Dr. 

 J. Bohls ; it was covered with a lid, and contained in addition to 

 some bones an abundance of dopplerite, which in the fresh watery 

 condition completely filled the urn. 



The specimen I have now to describe was found in Sluggan 

 bog, on E. M'Groggan's farm, at Drumsue, near Oookstown 

 Junction, in the County of Antrim. The bog was formerly about 

 20 feet deep : it is now only 11 feet deep. About 7 feet from the 

 surface, and 4 feet from the underlying boulder-clay, a gelatinous 

 mass of dopplerite occurs, about 3 inches in thickness, thinning 

 away irregularly into the adjoining peat. In its original moist 

 condition the dopplerite presents the form of a stiff jelly, of a 

 velvety-black colour. It is somewhat elastic to pressure, and less 

 elastic to tension, breaking with a conchoidal fracture. It reddens 

 blue litmus, is very slightly soluble in water, and apparently 

 insoluble in acid or neutral solvents, but dissolves in alkaline 

 solutions. In the water-oven it readily loses 85*9 per cent, of water. 

 It shrinks greatly in drying, and becomes blacker in colour and 

 very like jet, breaks with a conchoidal fracture, and exhibits a 

 bright vitreous lustre. The edges of the splinters are translucent, 

 and of a dark brown colour. It is perfectly homogeneous both in 

 the moist and dry states, and under the microscope shows no trace 

 of structure. When heated to ignition it burns without flame, 

 glowing like tinder, and giving off very little combustible gas ; it 

 leaves an ash having the form of the original mass, and of a light 

 reddish brown colour. 



Two closely concordant analyses of the substance dried for 

 twenty-four hours in the water-oven gave the following result: — ■ 



