DR. ANGUS SMITH ON PEAT. 305 



talline powder; but he could not find it on a second ex- 

 periment. And then, further, he considers the resins to be 

 more allied to wax. 



In the same volume, W. F. Fiirst, of Salm-Horstmar, 

 gives the result of his analyses for nitrogen. He finds by 

 combustion of peat with caustic soda an amount of ammo- 

 niacal salt equal to 2*1 p. c. of nitrogen. 



In Erdmann's ( Journal fur praktische Chemie ' for 1839, 

 vol. xvii. p. 16, is an article by W. A. Lampadius on the 

 peat (Schwartztorf and Brauntorf) of Eger in Bohemia. 

 He quotes an examination of the subject made for him by 

 Dr, Palliardi of Franzenbad, from which I extract the fol- 

 lowing (p. 18) : — 



" In the second year after cutting the peat, a number 

 of confervse are to be seen collected on the brown water in 

 the cutting. In the third year the vegetation is more 

 complete, and duckweed shows itself on the surface. In 

 the fifth year at last appear rushes [Binsen], cotton-grass, 

 and reed-grasses of different kinds. These two form a 

 substance firm enough to enable one to walk upon it. This 

 covering is called Kiihwampen. After ten or twelve years 

 Erica vulgaris, Vaccinium Oxycoccus, V. uliginosum, Salix 

 repens, and Pinus obliqua appear upon the peat-cutting. 

 After thirty or forty years, if the place has not been 

 drained, and no cattle have been fed upon it, they cut 

 peat again in the place where they consider there was 

 formerly a cutting. . . . 



" The deeper the cutting is made the better is the peat 

 which is obtained ; the solid substratum here is granite. The 

 thicker the layer of the peat the denser it becomes, because 

 of the pressure, the more bitumen also it contains and ap- 

 proaches nearer to brown coal. Where the moss has been 

 drained it becomes perfectly dry and changes into a dusty, 

 poor, black earth (Moorerde) which is entirely barren, a 

 proof that water and pressure are necessary for preserving 



