154 FOSSIL HYDRO-CARBONS, 



rature is raised very high, gas is the principal result ; but at a tempe- 

 rature of 212° Fahr., or thereabouts, a series of interesting and highly 

 valuable products pass over in succession. The Boghead mineral ia 

 largely treated in this manner, and the proceeds are well known in the com- 

 mercial world — light jjaraffine spirit, of sp. gr. 0-650 to 0700 ; paraffine oils 

 for burning, of very fair colour, and only moderate smell ; solid paraffine, 

 for candle-making ; a lubricating grease of no little merit, and other minor 

 products. The demand for these commodities is daily increasing, and I 

 look forward to an immense consumption of many deposits of coal hitherto 

 reckoned of little value. 



Peats. 



The nest in importance of the fossil hydro-carbons is'peat, or turf, 

 extensively distributed over the habitable globe. It is formed by the suc- 

 cessive growth and decay of inferior orders of vegetable life, lichens, 

 mosses, reeds, &c, until a considerable thickness, or solid mass, is formed, 

 exhibiting at different depths various degrees of decomposition. One 

 specie? of moss {Sphagnum palustre), which is a principal ingredient of this 

 substance, affords in itself a capital illustration of peat-bogs as a whole ; 

 for the upper portion of this moss exhibits life and vigour ; whilst below 

 the surface, the same plant is in process of decay. Northern Europe is 

 abundantly furnished with peat grounds, and cold climates generally are 

 possessed of supplies of this material more or less important ; but, perhaps, 

 nowhere is there so much peat-bog, in proportion to the total number of 

 acres, as in Ireland ; and thus Great Britain finds herself in possession of 

 another hydro-carbon in almost unlimited abundance. 



Peat is known to be possessed of many valuable properties, but no 

 successful plan has hitherto beeen devised for developing its virtues, or 

 distributing its benefits beyond the immediate localities where it is found. 

 As a fuel, turf, when well dried, is by no means to be despised ; and on the 

 continent, in France especially, whole districts may be seen studded over 

 with piles of peat-bricks, or clods, of different sizes ; the contents of each lot 

 being chalked on the sides, in bold characters. The peat best suited for fuel, 

 is neither dug out from the surface, nor at too great a depth below ; the 

 upper portion being too green, and the lower too much decayed ; but that 

 which is intermediate is best suited for the purpose. After being dried, 

 peat is sometimes compressed so as to exclude all moisture, and render it 

 more dense as a fuel. There is also a moderate quantity converted into 

 charcoal, and in this state it is famous as a deodoriser, and excellent as a 

 manure. 



Gas has been successfully made from peat, at certain places in Ireland, 

 and towns lighted up by its agency ; but the most important attempt at 

 utilising the peat-bogs of that country, on an extensive scale, was that made 

 by the Irish Peat Company, long since broken up. In a paper read before 

 the Society of Arts, by Mr W. G. Newton, in May, 1860, the following list 



