45 



SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



foreman of the works made some experiments in 

 piping off the gas. No water was discovered, so 

 the boring was closed up, and no more was thought 

 of it until the same firm of engineers, by order of 

 the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway 

 Company, again made another boring to the south 

 about one hundred yards distant, commencing in the 

 railway cutting about forty-three feet in depth below 

 the level of the top of the former boring. In this 

 boring, but at a greater relative depth, gas was 

 first noticed. I say first noticed, because it is now^ 

 certain that gas first began to come into the 

 boring at a higher level ; perhaps at the same 

 relative level as in the former boring. The rush of 

 gas became greater as the depth increased, and 

 when tested at the top of the bore-tube with a 

 light, by Mr. E. Head, the station master at Heath- 

 field, a column of flame sprang up to the height of 

 about si.xteen feet, and was with great difficulty 

 extinguished. A certain amount of water was 

 discovered, but not sufficient for the Railway 

 Company's purpose, and the boring was abandoned ; 

 nearly all the lining tubes being withdrawn. Not- 

 withstanding the partial blocks thus occurring 

 through the falling in of the sides of the boring 

 and the pressure of a great column of accumulated 

 water in the bore hole, the gas still continues to flow 

 from the bore-tube in a considerable quantity. It 

 has been calculated that the pressure of the gas at 

 its source at the bottom of the tube cannot be less 

 than 135 lbs. to the square inch. 



It is perhaps somewhat providential that some 

 obstruction has happened to prevent the enormous 

 loss of gas that would have occurred if the tube 

 had been left entirely open during a period of now 

 nearly two years. The Railway Company have 

 screwed a cap on to the end of the tube with a 

 small half-inch outlet from which the gas has been 

 allowed to flow continuously. 



With the kind permission of the Railway Com- 

 pany, whose officials are giving every assistance 

 and facility, my friend Mr. Lewis, C.E., F.S.A., 

 and myself have conducted various interesting 

 experiments with the gas ; and permission has been 

 obtained from the Company for a demonstration 

 of the gas, when used in various burners, on the 

 occasion of the visit to Heathfield of our affiliated 

 society, the Brighton and Sussex Natural History 

 and Philosophical Society. 



Respecting the origin of the gas, we look in vain to 

 the rock details of the boring for information. It 

 is true that certain small beds of lignite occurred 

 in the section, but one cannot account for the 

 enormous supply and pressure of gas on any theory 

 that the gas emanates from these beds. A portion 

 of the lignite in one of the beds occurred at the 

 depth of 347 feet at the junction between the 

 " Fairlight Clays " and the " Purbeck Beds," con- 

 sisting of blue sandy marl rock with bands of 



lignite, and has been analyzed by Dr. J. T. Hewitt, 

 Professor of Chemistry at the Technical College, 

 East London, on behalf of the Railway Company. 

 He reported to the Company that the lignite 

 contained : moisture, 4^90 ; volatile matter, 1555 ; 

 fixed carbon, i'74; ash, 77-81 = loo'oo. This 

 record, I take it, is about the usual result of the 

 analysis of lignite, and, I fear, throws very little 

 light on the subject. 



The greater probability seems to be that the 

 gas is derived from either the "Purbeck Beds " or 

 the " Kimmeridge Clays," by percolation through 

 the comparatively porous strata above. The 

 "Purbeck Beds" are known to contain a certain 

 amount of petroleum and bituminous matter, one 

 bed being particularly rich ; but far richer beds 

 lie below in the " Kimmeridge Clays," immediately 

 above which Mr. H. Willett discovered the gas. 



This is a matter, however, as also the sub- 

 sidiary one of the association of petroleum, 

 which can only satisfactorily be determined ,by 

 means of a deeper boring. Possibly the large 

 supply of gas at Waldron indicates the presence 

 of a larger quantity of its usual associate 

 (petroleum) than has been before recorded in 

 the underlying beds. 



Dr. Hewitt has also reported to the Railway 

 Company on the constituents of the gas. He 

 states that the gas is composed of three con- 

 stituents : Marsh gas, gigo; hydrogen, 720; 

 nitrogen, -go = 100, The two first of the above 

 gases, it may be remarked, are inflammable, but 

 burn only with a blue, non-luminous or compara- 

 tively non-luminous flame. Nitrogen is not an 

 inflammable gas. It is clear, therefore, that there 

 is nothing in the analysis which can account for 

 the illuminating power of the natural gas at 

 Heathfield, which burns with a brilliant yellow 

 flame. The gas, when burnt in an ordinary 

 "batswing" or "flat-flame" burner, is so luminous 

 that any ordinary and casual observer would not 

 remark the dift'erence between it and ordinary 

 household gas, although the difference does 

 actually e.xist (i). We must consequently, therefore, 

 suppose that either some luminous property in the 

 gas did not present itself in the sample taken away 

 by Dr. Hewitt, or else some variation has occurred 

 in the constituents of the gas, a feature which 

 appears to be not uncommon in the natural gas 

 of the United States, but in truth I believe not 

 quite to the same extent. I myself and others 

 have seen the gas burning at many times and at 

 different periods, but this non-luminous phase has 

 not presented itself to me or to anyone with whom 

 I have yet met. 



I will, therefore, confine my remarks to the gas 



(1) The ordinary illuminating power of the raw flame is gi 

 candles per cubic foot. In an incandescent burner of the 

 Denarouze Company it equals 29"6 candles per cubic foot, or 

 fifteen to twenty per cent, better than London gas.— CD. 



