MISCELLANEOUS NOTICES, CONTRIBUTIONS, AND 
CORRESPONDENCE. 
©iscoyery of Coal ia Lfgor and Kedah on the West 
Coast of the Malay Peninsula. 
In the beginning of March last we received from the Hon’ble 
Colonel Bulterworth, C. B., a specimen of coal said to have been 
found in Junkceylon. The extreme interest of this discovery in¬ 
duced us at once to forward a fragment in a letter by the overland 
mail to Professor Ansted. The July mail brought us some remarks 
by Professor Ansted on this coal, which he considered of so much 
importance as to bring it to the notice of the East India Com¬ 
pany and the Geological Society. We have since received the July 
number of the Journal of the Asiatic Society containing Dr. 0‘Shaugh- 
nessy’s report on a specimen which Colonel Butterworth had for¬ 
warded to the Bengal Government. The great importance of the 
discovery both in an economical and a scientific point of view, 
f for in the latter it promises with the associated calcareous beds to fur¬ 
nish a long sought key to unlock the history of the sedimentary rocks 
of the Peninsula,) induce us to lay before the readers of the Journal 
an account of the progress that has hitherto been made in tracing the 
coal. Colonel Low’s obliging and prompt compliance with our request 
that he would describe the result of his recent enquiries (which 
have been rewarded by the ascertainment of coal in a new loca¬ 
lity and one much nearer to Pinang*) enables us to refer to his 
paper for several details which are omitted here. 
The external characters of the coal first discovered differ from 
those of all the specimens of common coal, both English and Asiatic, 
which we possess. Although Dr. 0‘Shaughnessy has shewn it to be 
identical in compositionf with some species of cannel coal, it, at least 
our specimen, is also decidedly different in these respects, from a 
specimen of English cannel coal with which we have compared it. 
Its lustre is dull in comparison with it, as with all our other speci¬ 
mens; ia some directions it is resinous and faintly shining, but dc- 
See ante p. 146. 
f We mean in the proportion of volatile matter 
yet been chemically analyzed 
to charcoal, for it has not 
