892 



THE GEOLOGIST. 



bank of the Weser 2 feet thick ; but the most important workings are in 

 the county of Schaumberg-Lippe. There are also coal-seams in the 

 Wealden group, in the Duchy of Brunswick. North of Biickeberg there 

 is a seam of 7 inches ; and east of the Schaumburg seams appear in force, 

 and one of from 8 to 44 inches, of bituminous quality, is worked. Seven seams 

 appear near Miinder, but are not workable ; but this group is met with 

 again in the Osterwald, consisting of 18 seams ; three of which — 27 to 40 

 inches — are workable ; the middle one giving very pure bituminous coal. 

 Two seams near Briinninghausen are worked : the upper one bituminous 

 coal with much pyrites, 4 to 8 inches ; the lower, 26 inches, gives a large 

 percentage of ash. Near Mehle, 2 seamis of 14 to 22 inches are worked ; 

 and a continuation of this group is found at Holzminden, where 3 or 4 

 seams give an aggregate of 17 inches of coal. 



In the Cretaceous group a few seams of coal appear in the Cenomanian 

 sandstone (next above the Gault), near Niederschona, in Saxony ; the upper 

 one, 10 to 20 inches thick, was at one time the source of mining opera- 

 tions. Other small seams occur in different places, but are not workable. 

 Four small ones appear in the Senonian (Upper Cretaceous) beds at 

 Quedlinburg (in Magdeburg, Prussia) ; one of which has been worked at 

 different times, although it contains only 12 inches of coal. The same 

 coal appears in Prussian Silesia, near Wenig-Packwitz, Oltendorf, and 

 Neuen. Three seams are known in the two former places, measuring 38 to 

 44 inches ; the coal is of good quality, and has been worked for a long 

 time at the latter place. Coal also occurs at other places in Silesia, but 

 not in any beds of any importance. 



Next in importance to the true coals are the great Continental deposits 

 of brown coal ; and these have much interest in the eyes of geologists be- 

 yond their commercial value. Although brown coal, and particularly its 

 earthy varieties, possesses a very inferior heating power to coal proper, yet, 

 by affording an economical kind of fuel for common purposes, the work- 

 ings in many places are very considerable. The distribution of the brown- 

 coal beds in the Zollverein is quite different from that of coal, and their 

 extent far greater. The various deposits may however be grouped in three 

 divisions, — the western one, of thellarz and theThiiringerwald; the eastern 

 one, the largest in extent and the most important, between the rivers Elbe 

 and Vistula ; and the southern one, on the edge of the basin of the Danube. 



In the western group the brown coal of the basin of the Lower Ehine 

 begins near the Dutch frontier, and continues thence on the edge of the 

 older formations and through Eschweiler, Leimersdorf, and Corsdorf down 

 to the Ehine. At most points but one seam is known, although there is rea- 

 son to suppose there are others below it. A seam of 17 feet has been at- 

 tained at Xalk, a place nearly opposite to Cologne, at a depth of 81 feet. 

 Pour seams, altogether 47 feet, are known between Deutz and Kalk ; and 

 the seam in the district of Bonn, between Cologne and Walberberg, is from 

 12 to 87 feet ; between Liblen and Oberaussem it has a thickness of 66 feet, 

 but the bottom of it is seldom reached. The thickness of the seam is not 

 equally great at other points ; for instance, at Noppenberg it is 40 feet, 

 near Eschweiler 36, Diiren 30, and 50 at Lissem. As corollaries to the 

 basin of the Lower Ehine are the Neuwied basin, and the deposits at 

 Dierdorf, Kempenich, and Eckfield. 



Many varieties of brown coal contain a large proportion of iron pyrites, 

 are therefore used for the manufacture of alum. 



The brown coal of Diiren is subjected, at the Eustachia works, as it is 

 also at other collieries, to various economical purposes. Messrs. Doinet 

 and Vondcrbeck, the proprietors of those works, get from one pound of their 



