DR TRAILL ON THE TORBANEHILL MINERAL. 13 



ported duty free, " for it is not a coal, but must rather be classed with bituminous 

 shales." 



This decision of the General Zollverein Board is more worthy of notice, as it 

 is evidently against the interests of their customhouse union, since it allows a 

 foreign article to be imported duty free. 



I am gratified by finding that the opinion which I gave six months before, 

 that the Torbanehill mineral is not a coal, has been confirmed by such authority. 



I may be permitted to add, that though I readily allow its greater affinity to 

 bituminous shale than to coal, and had conjectured that it may have been formed 

 by the injection of bitumen into a shale, yet it differs in mineralogical characters 

 from any bituminous shale I have seen, or is described in systems of mineralogy, 

 by being perfectly dull in every direction, — by entirely changing its colour in the 

 streak, — by being translucent on its thin edges, — by its higher inflammability, — 

 and by its lower specific gravity. 



On these grounds I considered it an undescribed mineral, and ventured to 

 propose for it the name of Bitumenite. 



