On the minute structure of a peculiar combustible mineral from the coal-measures of Torbane-hill, near Bathgate, Linlithgowshire / by John Quekett.

  • Quekett, John, 1815-1861.
Date:
1854
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the minute structure of a peculiar combustible mineral from the coal-measures of Torbane-hill, near Bathgate, Linlithgowshire / by John Quekett. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    in what direction the sections are taken ; whether cut verti- cally, horizontally, or obliquely, there is no perceptible difference in the structure, and I say it without fear of con- tradiction, that no one, however skilled in microscopical observation could, from the inspection of a single specimen, state the direction in which the section had been made. Such is not the case with coal, as will hereafter be shown; a single inspection is sufficient to enable a practised microscopist to determine the actual direction of the section, whether trans- verse or longitudinal. Examination of portions of the Mineral having Plants imbedded in their substance.—I have already stated that plants and the impressions of plants are not uncommon in this mineral ; of these I have made numerous sections and chip- pings, and most instructive they all are. The plants appear to be principally Stigmarice, and exhibit more or less of the three tissues known to botanists as the cellular, the woody, and the vascular ; and should one or more of these be present in any section, the minutest fragment even of a cell or vessel can be readily recognised by a practised observer; they, as it were, stand out boldly from the mineral matter in which they are imbedded, and (as shown in figs. 3 and 4) can be distinguished in all cases by their rich brown colour; but such plants I not only consider as extraneous and not forming the bulk of the mineral, but such plants my investigations lead me to conclude rarely if ever form coal; at all events no coal that I have yet examined has ever exhibited the least trace of being made up of such plants as are so commonly seen imbedded in this mineral. Even the coal lying upon this mineral, and running through it in every possible direction, is composed principally of woody tissue, and not of plants such as these. Examination of sections of the Mineral having Coal in juxta- position.—^The first specimen of this kind which I had the opportunity of examining was brought by Mr. Bowerbank himself from one of the Torbane-hill pits. From this speci- men several sections were taken; one of them slightly mag- nified, is represented in Plate III., fig. 1. I regi'et I cannot show you the specimen itself, it being lodged in the Court of Session, in Edinburgh ; but I have been favoured with a some- what similar one through the kindness of Mr. Gratton. As the block lay in the pit, the coal was situated below the mineral in the position I now hold it, and you will readily be able to distinguish the one from the other by the naked eye ; but when viewed with a power of at least 50 diameters (as shown in Plate I., fig. 5), the smallest fragment of the coal that may happen to be mixed up with the mineral may be