506 



Rajmekal Coal. 



who gladly accepted it on these terms, but only two of them 

 granted receipts, and one only of three furnished Mr. Pontet 

 with a statement of the result of the trial : but this report 

 was so favourable, as to leave no doubt whatever as to the 

 useful quality of the coal. The report stated the sample of 

 Doobradgepore coal, supplied by Mr. Pontet, to be equal in 

 quality to Burdawan coal, and to be fifty per cent better 

 than the wood, which they were then using. 



Coal, however, may now form too inconsiderable an item 

 in public expenditure to render its supply a subject of much 

 importance. In no other way can we account for its unne- 

 cessary transmission from the Damooda river (the lowest 

 confluent of the Hoogly) up to Allahabad, a distance of 600 

 miles against the strong currents of the Ganges. If the labour 

 and money thus fruitlessly thrown away year after year, 

 were only to be directed for a short time to the Rajmehal 

 and other coal districts on the upper parts of the Ganges, 

 the result would not only be attended with much local 

 improvement in several deserted tracts where coal is abun- 

 dant, but would, after a time, lessen its expense very ma- 

 terially. 



Extract from the Memoir of M. Peligot on the analysis of 

 Sugar cane, and other Documents relative to the manufac- 

 ture of Sugar. Communicated by G. J. Gordon, Esq. 



Authors who have written on the cane, and the art of ex- 

 tracting its sugar, furnish information altogether erroneous 

 regarding the real nature of this precious plant. In fact, no 

 exact analysis of the cane, or of its produce had been made 

 or published when, in 1822, Vauquelin attempted to fill the 

 blank by procuring from Martinique some cane juice (or 

 vesou) preserved by Appert's process. Unfortunately, this 



