308 DR. ANGUS SMITH ON PEAT. 



horst, and as Challeton makes it, requires not a life-time 

 merely, but ages such as in ordinary speech we may call 

 an eternity " (p. 18). I am more hopeful. 



He quotes Prof. Scheerer as saying that the peat is a 

 compound of, approximately, 



60 per cent of Carbon, 

 2 „ „ Hydrogen, 

 38 ,, ,, Water; 



whilst dried wood is 



50 per cent of Carbon, 

 50 ,, „ Water. 



differing by 2 per cent, hydrogen and 10 carbon. 



Challeton's method is to prepare the peat in the dry way. 

 The Haspelmoor method, used at Munchen and Augsburg, 

 and introduced by Exter, is to heat dry and so cause the 

 oleaginous and tarry substances to keep the mass together. 

 The author takes an impartial view of the various methods, 

 and is not willing without more trial to decide on the value 

 of wet and undrainable bogs. 



A little volume by Prof. August Vogel in Munchen 

 (1859), 'Ueber Torf, seine Natur und Bereitung/ goes 

 into the description of apparatus for making and distilling 

 with great detail. It is mentioned, by the way, that Sendt- 

 ner, in his work on the vegetation of the peat-mosses, de- 

 scribes 332 plants as found in those of Southern Bavaria. 

 Dr. Vogel considers that the decomposition is the same as 

 with organic bodies decaying ; but as oxygen cannot enter, 

 the carbon is not reached : the changes are made at the ex- 

 pense of the oxygen of the humus ; so that carbon is relatively 

 increased. He thinks that it can easily compete with coal. 



Dr. Dullo in his 'Torf-VerwerthungeninEuropa' (1861), 

 after describing the condition of the peat-industry, calls 

 special attention to the cultivation of the moorlands of 

 Holland and the previous production of the fuel. He says 

 that 630 dollars (90 guineas) are demanded sometimes for 



