330 DR. ANGUS SMITH ON PEAT. 



itself. I can believe that in peat bogs this action soon 

 ceases; that is, the separation ceases, and the resins &c. begin 

 after a time to be washed away also. If this were not the 

 case, we should certainly in some of the old peat deposits 

 have some compounds richer than we have. Or it may be 

 that at a certain time, when the peat ceases to oxidize and 

 form soluble compounds, the permanent stage has set in, 

 and the substance may remain unchanged for ever, as in 

 the beds to which geologists have attributed great age. 

 In any case some hydrocarbonaceous substance remains. 

 This has been examined by several chemists ; but specula- 

 tion, as well as a little work on the subject, has given me 

 the idea that it deserves further research. That which I 

 have found is very solid, and some of that also Avhich I have 

 seen described. 



The observations of Mr. Binney and many other authori- 

 ties quoted make it certain that oil flows from the peat; 

 and we have thus plants forming both liquid and solid oils, 

 so to speak, on the surface, and giving the former at least 

 out whenever the plant becomes so much decayed and loses 

 so much of its substance as to be unable to hold the fluid. 

 One feels at a point like this strongly inclined to look to 

 this source for many Of the resinous and paraffin products 

 found under various names, earth-wax or ozokerit included ; 

 and who knows if we may not even look to this for the 

 great supplies of American oil, and the source from which 

 the shales were impregnated with their hydrocarbons (as 

 intimated by Mr. Binney's speculations) ? Whilst writing 

 this there is an account of oil being found under a large 

 heath in Germany, the " Luneberger Heide." 



The resins and waxes of peat have received some atten- 

 tion ; and most of my work is useless, as others have done 

 the same : but there are still some questions left ; and that 

 concerning the formation of these bodies is one not quite 

 enough considered. 



