0. H. Hitchcock on the Albert Coal of New Brunswick. 269 
 Itisnot likely that any of the shale rose above the surface at 
_ the time of flexure ; and now that a portion of it has been laid 
_ bare by the removal of the upper rocks, the fissure and contor- 
_ tions show more plainly than in the overlying tough conglome- 
_ hiteto the east, which being narrower will naturally contain less of 
B > aba matter that has subsequently been injected into it.’ 
some relics of this great force are now perceptible at the 
Albert mine, showing that the pressure is still exerted, perhaps as 
strongly as at any time of its manifestation. This phenomenon is 
‘much more‘noticeable than the “swellings of the walls,” so com- 
mon in deep mines. As soon as the coal is removed, strong tim- 
bers are put in to keep open the drifts, but in a short time these 
_ ‘Msspleces are split and crushed by the powerful force pushing 
the walls together. And when the timber is destroyed, the walls 
 shutin, closing with a great noise as loud as thunder for hours, 
C but not so near the workmen as to interfere with their progress. 
_ Aotmerely do the walls close, but frequently large fissures are 
: Pioduced behind the vein, so that the miners can clamber up 
td Own new crevices. Large masses of rock are sometimes 
een from either wall, in 
- Wemight explain the falling of fragments by gravity, but not 
b 
_ lstemoval from the vein. It will flow as easily as heaps of 
_ rm, and therefore pains are taken to tap the vein in the right 
ple, and at the proper time. If by oversight the main shaft is 
wot walled up very tight, the coal will stream through the crevices 
tetween the beams, to the great inconvenience of the workmen. 
: teen first outcrop of Albert coal was discovered by John Duffy, 
Thee uxteen years ago, in a deep ravine on Frederick’s brook. 
tbove the water-level, and sunk a shaft sixty feet, where the 
ven suid to have attained a width of ten feet. He then dis- 
ah the property to Cairns, Allison & Co., who held it at the 
| shifts in the Albert workings, so far as known, would be 
a” ly tedious. Percival describes them for the first 200 
| \ e . ° . 
7 fi ft od the existence of the coal in a vein occupying an anticlinal disloca- 
| the Albert geetined by Messrs. Robb and R. C. Taylor in their Joint Report Ho 
a) 851. See Proc. Am. Phil. Soc., vol. v, p- 242. 1eir repo’ 
: tal gm Panied by chemical analyses by Dr. C. M. Wetherill, who made the ma- 
Ae Jon, 2» Of #8phaltum and named it melan-asphalt. 
me ore. 8cl.—Secoxp Series, Vou. XXXIX, No. 117.—May, 1865. 
: 35 
