Hoyal Society of Edinburgh. 4209 



The Torbanehill " Mineral." 



The chief business of the evening was a paper by Professor Traill, on the substance 

 which has recently acquired extensive notoriety in legal and scientific circles through- 

 out Europe, as the Torbanehill " mineral," previously known, it is said, as the Boghead 

 gas coal. The President having called upon Professor Traill to read his paper, he 

 proceeded to give a detailed account of the local situation and geological position of 

 the mineral in question ; but these did not seem to supply any evidence as to the true 

 nature of the substance. There could be no doubt but that it occurred in a coal for- 

 mation, although he considered this as no argument in favour of its being coal, 

 as many other minerals are found under exactly similar conditions. He then gave a 

 description of the substance, dwelling particularly upon those points which seemed to 

 distinguish it from household coal and cannel coals ; in its colour it was stated to dif- 

 fer, as well as in its scratch changing colour and not being lustrous. Its thin edge, 

 when held betwixt the eye and a candle-flame, was shown to transmit light. It also 

 possessed very considerable elasticity, causing the hammer to rebound, and differed in 

 its fracture from ordinary coals. Specimens were handed round the room to illustrate 

 the various statements made by the learned Professor, who also threw a block of the 

 substance into the fire, to show that it did not burn like ordinary coal, but produced a 

 bright flame, never going into a red heat, such as would render it suitable for the cook- 

 ing of meat and other culinary operations. He also lighted a piece of it at a candle, 

 showing that it burned freely in this way, with a bright flame, and produced a large 

 quantity of smoke, the carbonaceous matter being deposited in part upon the piece 

 itself. Organic structure had been traced in the substance, but he did not deem this 

 of much importance. His various researches led him to the conclusion that it was not 

 a coal, nor a parrot-coal, nor asphaltum, nor a bituminous shale, to which it nearly 

 approached, but a distinct mineral, for which he proposed what he considered to be the 

 most appropriate name— Bitumenite. Professor Traill stated that this opinion had 

 been long formed, that the mineral had been brought to him long before the celebrated 

 trial, and that he at once recognized it as a mineral new to him and to science. We 

 of course do not enter into the details of the appearances and peculiarities presented 

 by the substance, as they could not be interesting to the majority of our readers ; 

 and those who, either from commercial or scientific motives, desire to acquaint 

 themselves with the elaborate details of Dr. Traill's paper, will no doubt have an 

 opportunity of doing so in the • Transactions of the Koyal Society,' at the close of 

 the present session. 



The President called for the opinions of members. 

 - Professor Gregory, in remarking upon the paper, stated that he did not con- 

 sider the substance in question similar to a bituminous shale, as the bitumen could 

 not be extracted from it by any solvent with which he was acquainted. He did 

 not see any chemical evidence for regarding it as differing from coal. 



Professor Fleming, in the most spirited speech we have heard from him for a 

 long time, contended that the substance, which he preferred to call the " Boghead gas 

 coal," was a coal, and a candle coal. What is a candle coal ? asked he, and why 

 does it get that name? Because it burns like a candle, which this substance does ; 

 and what is a parrot-coal, and why does it get that name ? Because in burning 

 it makes a noise, "chatters like a parrot," and the block burned in the Royal 

 Society's grate demonstrated that the so-called mineral did the same. He argued 

 that Professor Traill had pointed out no characters of sufficient value whereby to 



