241 



the Proceedings, in precisely the state left hy Mr. Taylor, ex- 

 cept that the blank references to pages in the Transactions 

 should be filled up. With the exception therefore of the re- 

 ferences, the following is given from the manuscript as left by 

 our deceased member. 



On a Vien of Asphaltum at Hillsborough, in Albert County, Pro- 

 vince of New Brunswick. By Richard C. Taylor. 



On the 19th of August, 1836, I had the honour of communicating 

 to the American Philosophical Society, a notice of certain veins of 

 Asphaltum or Chapapote, in the Island of Cuba, together with some 

 illustrative diagrams thereon. At that time, I believe no instance had 

 been made known of the existence of true Asphaltum on the North 

 American continent. Allusion has been slightly made to the occur- 

 rence of some soft variety of mineral pitch or petroleum in Texas, 

 but no details have reached us. 



It is only in recent times that a deposit of remarkably pure and 

 brilliant asphalte has attracted attention in the Province of New Bruns- 

 wick. Like the Chapapote of Cuba, the New Brunswick mineral 

 has been commonly spoken of as a species of coal, and has been 

 shipped and sold at the ports of the United States and Nova Scotia, 

 under that denomination. Some material differences of opinion have 

 been maintained, even among men of acknowledged scientific ac- 

 quirements, and while some have asserted its identity with bitumin- 

 ous coal, others place the substance among the purest variety of as- 

 phalte. There are other circumstances, not directly essential to the 

 object of the present communication, which await the decision of the 

 legal tribunals of the provinces, but the principal fact which, in the 

 first instance, was sought to be established, is the nature, character 

 and properties of the mineral products found in the Hillsborough mine. 



After a sufficient investigation of the mine, and of the geological 

 circumstances under which it occurs, there appear to exist no grounds 

 for denominating the mineral contents by any other name than As- 

 phaltum. 



The evidence from which this conclusion was formed, was detailed 

 at some length in a printed document, originating at Halifax, N. S.* 



* Siipreme Court, Halifax, N. S. Abraham Gesner vs. Halifax Gas Light 

 Company. Deposition of Pdchard C. Taylor, respecting the asphaltum mine 

 at Hillsborough, in the County of Albert and Province of New Brunswick. 

 Illusti-ated by a map and diagrams. Philadelinhia, 1851. 



