

56 



SHALES AND COALS. 



Upper 

 Gallery. 



Wall-case 41 



i 



is rendered unfit for being employed as fuel. The people 

 of the neighbouring district used formerly to make 



use 

 was erected at 





e 



of it for this purpose. A 



Wareh 



the volatile oil or spirit, and grease, &c, which were ob 

 tained from the shale by distillation, but the works wer 

 ultimately abandoned, in consequence of the disagreeable 

 smell given out by their products in burning, which could 

 not be effectually removed. 



The residue, left after the distillation of the shale, formed 

 a porous kind of coke, consisting of alumina and finely 

 divided carbon, which has been used for manure, and has 

 been found to prove highly beneficial for the growth of 

 turnips. Circular pieces of shale, about the size of a 

 penny, and apparently turned in a lathe, have been found 

 in great numbers buried in barrows, &c, in the Isle of Pur- 



beck. 



Kimeridge 



as it has been called, is 



supposed to have passed for coin, or to have been used as 

 tokens by the ancient inhabitants. — H.W.B. 



158 — Carbonaceous shale, termed "black bass" in 

 Lancashire, and "black slag" in Flintshire, forming the 

 roof of Englefield Colliery, Holywell, Flintshire. "Batt" 

 or " Bass " is a highly bituminous shale, commonly very 

 compact, and splitting into the finest lumime, almost in- 

 variably black, and often interstratified in layers with the 

 coal. (See "Records of School of Mines ;" Jukes on the 

 « Geology of South Staffordshire Coal Field," p. 161.) 



159.— Carbonaceous shale, with distorted Posidonia, 

 from the culm measures. — Bickington, North Devon. 



1 60. — Carbonaceous shale, from Coal Measur 



Madeley Pit, Salop. 



161.— Cannel coal. — Iron Bridge, Salop. 



Cannel coal is a corruption of the word candle, which 

 has been applied to a particular description of coal, from 

 the bright flame, unmixed with smoke, and like that of a 

 candle, which it gives out in burning. In Scotland, this 



called 



'? 



from the loud cracking noise with 





of fire-clay 

 hit about 



K 



centric con 



163.-A 



Slannon an 

 is so called 

 from 80 to 

 water and 



to 

 cr smoke, 

 residue in 



16U A 



lfiiuc 



c Walli 



ii 



i: 



iff, 



tilfc 



S: 



coal 



r 



