﻿266 Prof. How on the Mineralogy of Nova Scotia. 



are of tertiary age; and Liebig has shown* that there is a nota- 

 ble difference among these in chemical composition. The more 

 complete the obliteration of the woody structure, the greater the 

 departure from the relative proportions of the organic elements 

 in the original material. The wood-coal from Ringkuhl, near 

 Cassel, is seldom found with the structure of wood, and is there- 

 fore more comparable with the Pictou lignite than any in which 

 this is retained; its composition is given as — 



Carbon .... 63*83 



Hydrogen . . . 4*80 



Oxygen .... 25*51 



Ash 5-86 



100-00 

 and the approximate formula (old notation) 



C 32 H 15 9 



is added as deduced from these numbers : for comparison' sake I 

 have calculated a corresponding approximate formula from the 

 analysis of the Pictou lignite; it is 



C 32 H 12 8 . 



Hence, as compared with wood, for which Liebig gives the 

 formula 



C 36 H 2? 12 , 



there is a further loss of one atom of water and two atoms of 

 hydrogen, marking the difference between the carboniferous and 

 the tertiary lignites in question. 



As I have before pointed outf? the true ratio of carbon to 

 hydrogen, in such minerals as contain these elements together 

 with oxygen, is only brought out after deducting the amount of 

 hydrogen equal to that of the latter element present. In the 

 case of the two lignites just spoken of, the ratio stands thus : — 



Ra H O =O C pre O S ?nr i . th0at ^^} 10 ^ K 



^H = pnLt aft6r dedUCtmg } 100 : 263 100 : 2-50 



The effect of this deduction is obvious enough ; at the same 

 time a very close accordance is exhibited in the ratio between the 

 remaining elements. How much this differs from that existing 

 in bituminous coals is seen by the following comparisons. While 

 numerous coals of the province have been submitted to prismatic 



* Agricultural Chemistry, 4th American edit. p. 368 et seq. 

 t Mineralogy of Nova Scotia, p. 25. 



