54 Structure of a peculiar Combustible Mineral, 
Part of an individual plant apparently ? — Part of an individual plant 
probably. 
Do you know from what portion of this seam of Torbanehill mineral this 
slice representing the upper drawing is taken ? — do not know the portion 
of the seam. 
Do you know the portion of the seam from which any of them were 
taken ? — I have only seen the specimens. They seem to be the ordinary 
appearance of the Torbanehill mineral, and quite the usual appearance of 
the coal, so far as I saw. 
Here the Dean of Faculty took up another drawing, and asked witness 
if he saw anything similar to that ? — 1 saw appearances similar to that. 
Have you represented them ? — Represented them so far in some of these 
sections, only the dark colour between makes a difference in the appear- 
ances. 
Lord President. — Is that in the Torbanehill mineral ? — Yes. 
Dean of Faculty. — Did you see anything like that [showing witness 
another drawing. No. 25] ? — Something approaching to this. It wants, in 
some respects, the regularity of the structure I have seen in the other. 
Shown No. 26, another drawing, and asked if he had seen anything like 
that ? — This also approaches to what I observed, but wants the definiteness 
and regularity of the structure I saw. 
Did you see anything like that [showing No. 28, another drawing] ? — 
Yes, the yellow part is more like what we saw in the general structure. 
What power did you use in making these observations? — They are 
marked in diameters ; two of them were 200, and the other 70. 
Have you ever examined shales in this way ? — I have looked at one or 
two shales. It is not so much in my way as plants. 
Do you find marks of fossil plants in them ? — Yes, they occur ; but the 
structure is different in them. They have not the same marked definite 
form I have seen in the others. 
I understand that in these you represent both the transverse and the 
parallel sections ? — Yes, we have taken them in two directions. 
Which are the transverse ? — The three upper are the longitudinal, and 
the lower the transverse or horizontal. 
What do you mean by horizontal ? — By horizontal we mean cutting off 
the ends of the vessels. 
That is to say, you learned that from the gentlemen who made them ? — 
I have examined sections. 
You did not see the sections made ? — No. 
Then, of course, you could only get the information from those gentle- 
men who made them ? — Yes. 
Are the three upper cut along the stratum, as it were, off the top of the 
stratum as it lies ? — I am talking of them as regards the appearances we 
see in the microscope. Judging from ordinary structure, in the one case 
we cut the ends of the vessels ; in the other, we cut along the line longi- 
tudinally. 
Lord President. — The three upper are cut along the line of the vessels, 
and the three others are cut across the line of the vessels. 
Dean of Faculty. — Do I understand you to say that you were told they 
were cut in this way, and that that is the ground of your saying so ; or do 
you form your opinion by the appearance they present ? — I was of course 
told so ; and on looking at them, I should say they are so cut. 
Then it is from both these reasons that you say so ? — Yes. 
Did you examine any part of the ashes of this mineral with the micro- 
scope ? — No. , 
Did you ever examine the ashes of coal with the microscope ? — No. 
