MISCELLANEOUS MINERALS. 13 H 



Colour black; lustre for the greater part bright, but contained Coais^ 

 occasional dull layers, consisting apparently of carbonaceous shale, cont. 

 It was rather brittle. Does not soil the fingers. Takes fire in a 

 lamp flame, burning with a bright somewhat smoky flame and 

 evolving an empyreumatic odor : in the closed tube yields water 

 and tarry matter. Colour of powder black with a faint brownish 

 tinge, the same communicated no colouration to a boiling solution 

 of caustic potash. 



By slow and fast coking the following results were obtained : 



Slow coking. Fast coking. 



Hygroscopic water 1 .05 1 .05 



Volatile combustible matter 15.35 19.09 



Fixed carbon 42.70 38.96 



Ash 40.90 40.90 



100. 100. 



Eatio of volatile combustible matter 



to fixed carbon 1 : 2.78 1 : 2.04 



By slow coking the under portion of the powder alone was sin- 

 tered, the middle and upper portions remaining pulverulent. Fast 

 coking gave a firm coke. Ash pale cream-colour. 



-Beceived through Dr. G. M. Dawson from Charles Horetzky, Esq., — 

 the specimen was labelled "Skeena, Station 65, twenty miles above 

 the Forks," — British Columbia. 



Made up of alternate dull layers of what appeared to be carbona- 

 ceous shale and a bright black coal, occasionally these latter exhi- 

 bited a conchoidal fracture, but the greater number showed a very 

 distinct columnar structure at right angles to the plane of bedding. 

 It does not soil the fingers. In the closed tube yields water but 

 scarcely any tarry matter, evolves however a faint empyreumatic 

 odour. Colour of the powder black, the same communicated no 

 colour to a boiling solution of caustic potash. 



Analysis by slow and fast coking gave the following results: 



Slow coking. Fast coking. 



Hygroscopic water 1 .52 1 .52 



Volatile combustible matter 7.63 7.20 



Fixed carbon 45.61 16.04 



Ash 45.24 45.24 



100. 100. 



Eatio of volatile combustible matter 



to fixed carbon 1 : 5.97 1 : 6.39 



Both slow and fast coking gave a pulverulent coke. Colour of 

 the ash almost white. 



