STATE GEOLOGIST. 197 



or it may be mixed with the gas obtained by the decomposition, 

 at a high temperature, of the crude oil from peat. In this way 

 an illuminating gas is obtained whieh has three and four-tenths 

 times the illuminating power of coal gas, while the yield is 

 equal to that from coal. 



The solid bitumen resulting from the distillation of peat may 

 be employed like asphalt in the preparation of mastic for paving. 

 Even the crude peat, by being mixed after drying with 10 to 15 

 per cent, of coal tar, and boiled for several hours, dissolves into 

 a viscid liquid, which, when cooled, is solid, and resembles 

 asphalt. The crude residues from the rectification of the oil of 

 peat are burned in proper apparatus, and furnish abundance of 

 lampblack. 



For the production of gunpowder, many varieties of peat are 

 superior to the charcoal of dogwood and alder.* 



The reader, perhaps, will hardly deem it credible that so great 

 a variety of commercial products is obtained from a substance 

 so common and so little valued as the " muck" with which our 

 "swamps" are filled. As all such doubts arise from ignorance 

 of the properties of peat, I present below a convenient synopsis 

 of the products and uses of this substance : 



, 1. Crude peat as a fertilizer for the soil. 



2. Prepared peat and peat-coke as fuel. 



(a) For domestic and ordinary heating purposes. 



(6) For the generation of steam. 



(c) For the manufacture and working of metals. 



3. Peat fcft- the manufacture of gunpowder. 



4. Peat or bitumen from peat for paving purposes. 



5. Crude oil for purposes of lubrication, illumination and 



gas-making. 



6. Petroleum for burning in lamps. 



7. ParafiBne for the manufacture of candles. 



8. Light, inflammable gas for heating. 



9. Illuminating gas of superior quality. 

 10. Lampblack. 



The value of peat for any or all of the above purposes will 



obviously depend upon its freedom from earthly deposites. In 



* For valuable information on the subject of Peat, the readeri s referred to " Taylor's Sta- 

 tistics of Coal," and T. S. Hunt's Chemical Reports, in the Canada Geological Reports for 

 1850 and 1855. 



