1855.] HAMILTON TERTIARIES OF HESSE CASSEL. 131 



bability is that it will be found throughout the whole district here 

 laid down as tertiary in Prof. Schwarzenberg's map*. 



A short distance further westward, near the village of Nieder Kau- 

 fungen, a very interesting section has been lately exposed, giving an 

 almost complete epitome of the whole tertiary series, resting imme- 

 diately upon Muschelkalk, as follows, in ascending order : — 



1. Muschelkalk. 



2. Thin beds of clay, resting on the Muschelkalk. 



3. A thin seam of coal ; not very good. 



4. Sands, which at a distance of 50 or 100 yards are found to 



contain abundantly the same fossils as those found in bed 

 No. 5 of the former section. 



"We have therefore here apparently the edge or coast-line of the 

 basin containing the shallow lagoon in which the coal was formed, 

 and which, on the irruption of the sea, was covered up by a marine 

 deposit containing the organic remains of a marine fauna. 



3. Sections at the Hirschberg. 



In the same direction from Cassel, viz. E.S.E., but seven or eight 

 miles beyond Kaufungen, are the extensive Brown-coal works of the 

 Hirschberg, and still further on, the more extensive and better known 

 works of the Meissner. I had no opportunity of visiting the latter, 

 but the circumstances under which the Brown-coal occurs there are 

 nearly, if not exactly, similar to those observed at the Hirschberg. 

 In both cases a basaltic plateau forms the summit of the isolated 

 hills, that of the Meissner being the more extensive and more 

 elevated of the two. The Brown-coal beds, which with their associated 

 beds of marls and clays rest upon the ridge of Muschelkalk to the 

 north (which is as it were a prolongation of that near Kaufungen), 

 dip in both cases at an angle varying from 10° to 25° towards the 

 centre of the hill, and partly even under the basalt. 



At Ringkiihlen, near the N.E. foot of the Hirschberg, Prof. 

 Schwarzenberg of Cassel is principal proprietor of extensive chemi- 

 cal works. These were originally established for the purpose of 

 obtaining alum from the bituminous shales, which are interstratified 

 with the Brown-coal, and were obtained in open workings. The 

 works are now reorganized on account of the facility of procuring 

 fuel. The sulphur which is the basis of most of the operations, is 

 imported from Sicily. Saltpetre is also imported. Amongst the 

 numerous chemical productions of the works, the following appeared 

 to be the most important, sulphuric acid, muriatic acid, chloride of 

 lime, soda, and Glauber-salt. 



The general section of the formation here contains four or five good 

 working seams of coal, some of which are 30 or 40 feet thick. These 

 beds are overlaid by basalt, which rising up apparently through the 



* Geognostische Karte von Kurhessen und den angrenzenden Landern zwischen 

 Tauuus-, Harz- und Weser-Gebirge, u. s. w., von Adolph Schwarzenberg und 

 Heinrich Reusse, 18.53. 



