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quite horizontal and parallel to each other, with these also 
are to be seen one or two little bands of red ferruginous 
clay. 
I should mention that the ironworks belonging to this 
company I was not able to visit, which I regret very much. 
However, as I saw no blast furnaces, and outside a good 
deal of “raw pig,” I conclude that they busied themslves 
there merely with imddling” Most of the iron-ore, of 
best quality, used in this part of Italy comes from Elba. 
The Lignite itself is not so far advanced in mineral 
character as the slaty variety known in Zurich, and occur- 
ring on the banks of the Lake by Meilen as “ SchieferJwhl” 
It is not so hard and slaty. It is more fibrous or woody 
than this, and yet it is of a slaty texture. The bulk seems 
mostly a little wet, though a great deal appears very dry. 
It is all however exposed in the sun to dry. Some of the 
best is cut evenly in blocks and dried on drying flats of 
rough brick work, the fires underneath being maintained by 
some of the worst, with dust, smalls, and refuse. The colour 
of the Lignite is dark brown, much like the “ Schieferkohl” 
of Meilen by Zurich. 
In excavating the deposit, and detaching large blocks of 
Lignite, very frequently a large escape of gas occurs; there is 
a rush, and if torches are near, a flame, and then all is over 
again, the flame soon going out. From this it would 
appear that the fire-damp is pretty well diluted wflth Carbon 
dioxide, in all probability. However, no gas is ever met 
with, I was assured, which extinguishes candles. So it 
would appear that the “ fire-damp ” or “ Marsh gas ” is 
pretty uniformly in some excess, in the occluded gases. 
There is a good deal of sieving done, to separate dust from 
the coarser lumps. Now these sievings when thrown on 
one side in heaps, are said to “ferment” and take fire 
spontaneously. This is continually occuring and requires 
watchfulness. This fact points to the very probable occur- 
