200 
On certain Varieties 
NINE MILE MARSH, TASMANIA. 
Earthy Lignite. 
External character .—Colour black ; structure slaty, 
resembling coal, friable, soiling fingers; specific gra¬ 
vity 1*40. 
Chemical character .—Burns without flame or smoke 
when exposed to strong heat, does not melt, does not 
agglutinate : its proximate constituents are,— 
Charcoal . 40* 
Ligneous, not bituminous, matter 22* 
Water . 10* 
Earthy impurities . 28* 
Geological situation .—It is in small beds in transition 
formations amongst grauwackes and greenstones of that 
series. 
KERGUELEN'S LAND. 
Earth Coal. 
External character .—Colour blackish brown, with 
black spots of a resinous lustre, fracture rather foliated, 
the mass somewhat slaty, texture compact, cross fracture 
coarse grained, uneven; reduced to powder it acquires a 
red ferruginous tinge of pulverised lignites ; specific gra¬ 
vity 1*80. 
Chemical character .—Burns with difficulty, and emits 
a smell like that of bituminous wood; by distillation it 
yields tar and pyroxylic spirit, combined with an alkali, 
having absolutely the odour of juft, extracted in Russia 
from the epidermis of the birch for tanning leather, to 
which it imparts its peculiar aroma : its proximate con¬ 
stituents are,— 
Charcoal . 29*20 
Ligneous and bituminous matter 24*20 
Silica. 3*82 
Sulphate of copper . 10*23 
