Miscellanies. 185 



stones, and then put a candle to it ; by this means, they had plenty 

 of boiling water without further trouble, or the expense of fuel. It 

 would burn for weeks or months, unless put out. I mention this to 

 show how highly charged the coal was with gas. What I am now 

 going to describe, may be worth a little attention. There was no 

 extraordinary boiling of the water, or rising of the gas, before we cut 

 the coal at the bottom of the pit, more than is usually discernible in 

 a common pond of stagnant water, when a long stick is forced into 

 the mud. As soon as the coal was struck at the depth of one hun- 

 dred and eighty feet, it appeared to throw the whole coal mine into 

 a state of regular mineral fermentation. The gas roared as the mi- 

 ner struck the coal with his pick ; it would often go off like the re- 

 port of a pistol, and at times I have seen it burst pieces of coal off 

 the solid wall, so that it could not be a very lightly charged mine, 

 under such circumstances. The noise which the gas and water made 

 in issuing from the coal, was hke a hundred thousand snakes hissing 

 at each other." — Atheneum, No. 427. 



37. Fossil Wax. — Dr. Meyer has forwarded a specimen of fossil 

 wax to the French Academy of Sciences, with all the details con- 

 cerning it which he had been able to procure. It was found in 

 Moldavia, at the foot of the Carpathian Mountains, covered with a 

 stratum of clay slate, mixed with bitumen. M. Udreizky, a Ger- 

 man, had bored a mine there, and in it found pieces weighing from 

 eighty to one hundred pounds. The texture varies considerably ; 

 sometimes its fracture is fibrous, at others leafy ; occasionally it is 

 rippled ; it is very pure and transparent at the edges, melts at a 

 temperature of 40°, and yields a bituminous odor, by no means dis- 

 agreeable. When washed in several waters, this substance assumes 

 a deep yellow tint, and in this state, is employed in the manufacture 

 of candles. Not far from the place where it was found, are several 

 layers of brown amber, which leads M. Meyer to believe that it may 

 be yellow amber disturbed while joining. Cold alcohol has no ac- 

 tion upon it ; when boiling it dissolves a small quantity, which in 

 cooling precipitates itself in white flakes. The residuum acquires a 

 deeper color and more tenacity. Ether, at an ordinary tempera- 

 ture, dissolves that part which gives the yellow color, leaving an al- 

 most colorless residuum. Alcohol and ether mixed, precipitate the 

 dissolved portion, and this precipitate, exposed to fire, melts at a 

 low temperature, and stains paper in the manner of oil. It is per- 



Vol. XXX.— No. 1. 24 



