THE GEOLOGIST 



SEPTEMBER, 1861. 



THE TORBANE HILL MINERAL. 

 By the Editoe. 



" Not many years ago," Mr. Salter tells us in his admirable "Lecture 

 on Coal," printed in this volume, " the ' bigwigs ' in England were 

 assembled in conclave, and the elite of science was called before 

 them" to determine what certain " lumps of a blackish brown sub- 

 stance" were. Was it carbon ? Was it shale ? Was it cannel ? 

 Was it coal ? Now it was on Friday, the 29th July, 1853, that 

 these " bigwigs" were assembled at Edinburgh to give evidence or 

 opinion in the great trial of Gillespie against Russell. The issues 

 put to the jury were, " Whether the defenders are tenants of certain 

 minerals in the lands of Torbane Hill belonging to the pursuers 

 under a missive of agreement ? and whether in the course of the 

 period between the term of Candlemas 1850 and the month of May 

 1852 the defenders wrought and put out from the same lands of 

 Torbane Hill a valuable mineral substance not let to them by the 

 said missive, to the loss, injury, and damage of the pursuers ?" and 

 the damages were laid at ten thousand pounds. 



This, in simple language, amounted to this : Gillespie had let to 

 the Russells certain lands, with the right to dig coals; but the 

 Russells, after they got their lease, extracted another substance pre- 

 VOL. iv. 2 Q 



