892 
THE GEOLOGIST. 
bank of the Weser 2 feet thick ; but the most important workings are in 
the county of Schauniberg-Lippe. There are also coal-seams in the 
Wcaklen 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 
ap])ear near Miinder, but are not workable ; but this group is met with 
again in the Osterwald, consisting of 18 scams ; 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. JS^ear Mehle, 2 seams 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 ^STiederschona, 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-Eack\^itz, Oitendorf, 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 Zollvereiu 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 the Harz 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 lihine 
begins near the Dutch frontier, and continues thence on the edge of the 
older formations and through Eschweiler, Leimersdorf, and Corsdorf down 
to the E-hine. 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 isilk, a place nearly opposite to Cologne, at a depth of 81 feet. 
Four 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 Koppenberg it is 40 feet, 
near Eschweiler 36, Diiren 30, and 50 at Lissem. As corollaries to the 
basin of the Lower Uhine 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 
andYonderbeck, the proprietors of those works, get from one pound of their 
