<20O m r « hatchett's observations on bitumens, &c. 



Deduction. Moreover, the half charred appearance of Bovey coal, and 



of furturbrand, cannot be adduced as any proof, that the 

 original vegetable bodies have been expofed to the partial 

 effecls of fubterraneous fire; for, at this time, we know that 

 the oxidizement of fubftances is performed, at leaft as fre- 

 quently, and as effectually, by the humid as by the dry way. 

 It would therefore be Ajperfluous here, to enter into an ela- 

 borate difcufllon, to prove that coal and bitumen, with much 

 greater probability, have been formed without the interven- 

 tion of fire; and I am the lefs inclined to fay more upon this 

 fubjedt, as I have already publifhed fome confiderations on it 

 in a former paper.* 

 The new fub- Before I conclude, I muft beg leave to obferve, that as the 

 ftance found f u bflance which is found with the Bovey coal is, in every 



with the Bovey J J 



coal termed refpeft, fo totally different from any of the bitumens hitherto 



Retinafrbaltum. difcovered, it feems proper that it (hould receive fome fpecific 



name; and, as it has been proved to confift partly of a refin 



and partly of a bituminous i'nbftance, I am induced to call it 



Retinqfphaltu?n,f a name by which a full definition of its nature 



is conveyed. 



Account of an- I have lately feen, in No. 85 of the Journal des Mines, p. 77, 



other fpecirnen, an accoun t of a peculiar combuftible foffi!, found near Helbra, 



probably of the . , f\, _ , , , , r ., .. „ ,. . , 



f ame , in the county or Mansfield, and delcribed by Mr. Voight, m 



his Verfuch einer Gefchichte der Steinkohle, der Braivnkohle, &c t 

 p. 188. This fubflance is of an afh-coloured gray, pafiing 

 to grayifli-white ; it is found in a bed of bituminous vegetable 

 earth, which has apparently been produced by the decompo- 

 fition of foflil wood. The pureft fpecimens are in the form 

 of nodules; the frafture is earthy; it is opaque; foft ; 

 brittle ; and is very light. When applied to the flame of a 

 candle, it burns and melts like fealing-wax, at the fame time 

 diffufing an odour which is not difagreeable. This fubflance 

 appears to accord in fo many properties with the retinai- 

 phaltum of Bovey, that I cannot but fufpecl it to be of a 

 fimilar nature, and I have little doubt that, -by a chemical ex- 

 amination, it will be found to confifl partly of refin and partly 

 pf bitumen. 



* Tranf. of the Linnean Society, Vol. IV. pp. 141, &c, 

 + From pT'Vn, refin j and aatpaXl©-', bitumen. 



Account 



