132 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [Jan. 3, 



centre of the hill, has spread itself out as a covering on the summit 

 (see fig. 2). In the upper beds of coal specimens of Stengelkohl, or 

 columnar coal, are sometimes found, evidently the result of igneous 

 action ; further from the point of contact with the basalt, retinite- 

 asphalt also occurs, and in the same beds is found the Glance-coal, 

 more resembling the Newcastle coal, with a bright shining conchoidal 

 fracture, and below that again is the ordinary brown-coal, with its 

 earthy structure. The following section, in descending order, was 

 given me by Prof. Schwarzenberg : — 



1 . Basaltic boulders, from the summit of the Hirschberg. 



2. Soil. 



3. Yellow clay; 120 feet. 



4. Brovv^n-coal beds ; 2 feet. 



5. Bituminous clay ; 6 feet. 



6. Brown-coal ; 36 feet. 



7. Quartzose sands, or bottom sandstone ; 78 feet. 



8. Sand and sandy clay ; 33 feet. 



9. Brown-coal ; 3 feet. 



10. Inferior coal, called Schnapp-Erz, bituminous and containing 



iron-pyrites; 15 feet. 



11. Bituminous shale (Leber-erz) ; 18 feet. It was from these 



beds that the alum was formerly obtained. 



12. Brown-coal; 15 feet. 



This last is separated from the Muschelkalk by intervening beds of 

 clay, the thickness of which was not given. To the eastward of 

 Ringkiihlen, and still on the northern slopes of the Hirschberg 

 towards Gross Almerode, thick beds of fire-clay, of extraordinary 

 quality and tenacity, are developed in the section. This clay is ex- 

 tensively worked, the best being sent in its natural state to America, 

 while that of inferior quality is absorbed in the neighbouring potters' 

 village of Gross Almerode, in the manufacture of Dutch-pipes and 

 chemical crucibles, which are sent to all parts of the world. 



The following section, also given me by Prof. Schwarzenberg, occurs 

 nearly halfway between Ringkiihlen and Gross Almerode, in descend- 

 ing order : — 



1. Yellow whitish sand. 



2. Grey clay. 



3. Brown-coal beds. 



4. Freshwater beds of a sandy clay, — Polirschiefer. 



5. Clay shales and marl. 



6. Variegated mottled clays. 



7. Calcareous nodules ; 2 feet. 



8. Calcareous clay shales, with petrifactions. 



9. Grey clay. 



10. Mottled clays. 



1 1 . Compact argillaceous sand ; 2 feet. 



12. Quick sand. 



13. Fire or glass-furnace clay, — pipe-clay; 40 feet. 



14. Brown-coal beds. 



