obtained in the distillation of Wood , t^c. 19 



A specimen of black lignite from Sussex gave an oil which re- 

 $embled the former in smell, and perhaps did not differ much, from 

 it in its solubility in naphtha, but I had not enough of the substance 

 to institute an accurate comparison, neither in fact, could it serve 

 any purpose. A similar substance from Bovey gave similar results. 



The oil which was distilled from jet was of a greater specific 

 gravity than any of the preceding, and smelled strongly of petroleum. 

 It seemed to be soluble in naphtha as readily as the specimen of 

 petroleum with which I compared it. Indeed had it not been that 

 a greater quantity of acid was given over in this process than from 

 any of the varieties of coal, I know not that any chemical distinction 

 between the two would have existed. The mineralogical one is still 

 considerable. The several specimens above enumerated, yielded each 

 a large portion of acetic acid, marking as clearly as the peculiar sort 

 of oil did, the remains of unchanged vegetable matter. 



Examining therefore the alteration produced by water on common 

 turf, or submerged wood, we have all the evidence of demonstration 

 that its action is sufficient to convert them into substances capable of 

 yielding bitumen on distillation. 



That the same action having operated through a longer period 

 has produced the change in the brown coal of Bovey, is rendered 

 extremely probable by the geognostic relations of that coal. From 

 this to the harder lignites, surturbrand and jet, the transition is so 

 gradual, that there seems no reason to limit the power of water to 

 produce the effect of bituminization in all these varieties, nor is there 

 aught in this change so dissonant from other chemical actions, as to 

 make us hesitate in adopting this cause. In the ordinary process of 

 vegetable putrefaction and destruction, a variety of compound gases 

 are formed by the reaction of their elements, and carbon alone, or 

 rather carbon united to a portion of hydrogen, remains behind. 



c 2 



