138 
rence of iron pyrites in a finely divided state, amongst the 
substance of the Lignite. I noticed in several places 
portions of blocks of woody matter quite charred by the 
combustion of gas, fired simply through intense heat, caused 
by oxidation of a freshly exposed surface of lignite. 
With regard to the output in 1878, this was 700 tons per 
week, or 120 per day. 200 men were employed. Those 
working the deposit are paid at the rate of IJ Liras per 
diem, the lira being about 9;|d. of our money. So these are 
certainly not overpaid colliers ! 
The price of the dried Lignite is 12 Liras per 1000 kilos, 
which is not 10s. per ton, something near 9s. 6d. per ton. 
On distillation, an aqueous acid liquid is obtained, 
smelling of wood-tar creosote. The tar smells like wood-tar. 
The pitch is bright, and very like wood-pitch. A kind of 
lubricant is made for the wheels of the tram wagons by 
mixing the crude tar with linseed oil. The gas obtained 
by distilling the lignite is to some extent illuminating, but 
not sufficiently so for house use. The manager said a 
process had been devised by a Florentine gentleman for 
conferring illuminating power on it, or of treating, or 
distilling it, so as to obtain illuminating gas from it sufficing 
for all purposes, and Florence was shortly to be lighted by 
this gas. 
Possibly this method depends upon the fact mentioned by 
Percy in his work on “FueP’ (Metallurgy), p. 139, that “if the 
volatile products from the carbonization of wood be subjected 
to a considerably higher degree of heat than that usually 
adopted in the charring process, instead of CO2, CO, and 
CH4 being formed, a mixture of gases in which olefiant gas 
is now present, is obtained, and this possesses considerable 
illuminating power, and has been successfully applied for the 
purpose of illumination.” I may just mention that in the 
ordinary distillation of wood in closed iron-retorts or ovens, 
just about the termination of the process, the gases evolved 
