284 REPORTS ON THE STATE OF SCIENCE, ETC. 



points at atmospheric pressure. Thus, a fraction termed the ' a pyridine- 

 chloroform ' fraction would mean the residual insoluble portion of a coal after 

 successively extracting it with pyridine and chloroform at their respective 

 boiling points ; the ' (3 'pyridine-chloroform ' fraction would be that portion of 

 the pyridine extract which is insoluble in chloroform ; whilst the ' y pyridine- 

 chloroform ' fraction would mean the portion of the coal which is soluble in both 

 pyridine and chloroform, and so on. In cases where the coal is extracted at 

 some particular temperature other than the boiling point at atmospheric 

 pressure of the solvent employed, the actual temperature employed might be 

 designated by putting it in small type above the name of the solvent, thus 

 ' -benzene i^° ' denoting that benzene had been used at 120° C 



IV. Brown Coals and Lignites. 



Although Great Britain itself is almost destitute of sub-bituminous coals 

 and lignites (the Bovey Tracey deposit in Devonshire being the only important 

 one in this country), the problem of using them efficiently is of great importance 

 to several of the Dominions, and especially so to Australia, Canada, and India. 

 Of the total estimated Canadian reserves, amounting altogether to 1,234,268 

 million tons, no less than 1,072,627 million tons are of a sub-bituminous lignitic 

 class occurring in the upper cretaceous formations of the province of Alberta, 

 whilst in the neighbouring province of Saskatchewan tliere are both cretaceous 

 and tertiary lignite reserves amounting to 59,812 million tons. The Dominion 

 Government has set up a Lignite Utilisation Board for the purpose of investi- 

 gating the best means of utilising these resources, and it is hoped that the 

 approaching meeting of the Association at Toronto in r924 will afford an 

 opportunity of discussing the problem in all its bearings. 



In Australia, the provincial Governments of Victoria, South Australia, and 

 New South Wales are all interesting themselves in the utilisation of their brown 

 coal and lignite resources. Of these, the celebrated Morwell deposits in the 

 Gippsand district of Victoria, which are of phenomenal thickness without 

 parallel elsewhere in the world, are of great scientific interest, as well as of 

 economic importance for the future of Australia. It has been estimated that 

 within an area of 50 square miles in the Latrobe Valley, and within 1,000 ft. , 

 of the surface, there are 31,144 million tons of the coal. A bore-hole put downj 

 near Morwell disclosed no fewer than seven beds of brown coal within < 

 1,000 ft. of the surface, of a total thickness of 781 ft., the individual seams j 

 (taken in order from the surface) running 29 ft. 8 in., 25 ft. 8 in., 23 ft. J 

 227 ft. 10 in., 265 ft. 6 in., 166 ft., and 43 ft. 8 in. respectively. So far as] 

 they have been examined, they were reported by the Victorian Advisory Com-J 

 mittee on Brown Coal, in 1917, as consisting of ' a matrix of earthy brown 

 coal, with sporadic inclusions of lignite . . . the matrix consists of pollen! 

 grains, spore cases, and decomposed vegetable matter. . . . The coal varies! 

 in colour between yellowish brown and black, but it always pulverises to| 

 brown powder.' The raw coal usually contains about 50 per cent, of water;! 

 the dry coal contains: Carbon = 62.5, Hydrogen = 4.85, Nitrogen =0.45, Sulphur! 

 = 0.20, Oxygen = 28.00, and Ash = 4.00 per cent. Its gross calorific value isj 

 about 5.600 K.C.Us. per kilogram. 



In the year 1917 the Advisory Committee appointed by the VictorianJ 

 Government' to investigate the possibilities of generating electric power on^ 

 a large scale from the Morwell coal reported that, notwithstanding its low 

 grade, power could be more cheaply generated from it for the City of Melbourne 

 than from black coal imported from New South Wales. It has been officially 

 estimated that the cost of producing raw INIorwell coal at the mines will 

 not exceed 2?. 6(7. per ton. The Victorian Government has already authorised 

 the expenditure of 6,000,000?. upon the development of the Morwell coal 

 deposits in the expectation that by the year 1924 electrical energy from thence 

 will be supplied, not only to the City of ■Melbourne, but also throughout the 

 whole State of Victoria. It has been calculated that the cost of such energy 

 at the mine will be as low as 2Z. 17.«. 6rf. per horse-power per annum, and that 

 it can be sold profitably to manufacturers throughout the State at an average 

 price of 4?- 8s. per horse-power per annum. Large-scale steam trials are, or 

 have been, in progress with a view to ascertaining how the coal may best be 



