I.—On “Tasmanite” and Australian “White Coal”

Extract

The two substances known as “Tasmanite” and Australian “White Coal,” which are the subject of the present communication, have a special interest for the geologist on account of the light which they throw upon the microscopio structure and composition of many Coals. My attention was first directed to them when collecting materials for Professor Huxley’s examination into the microscopic structure of Coal. My esteemed colleague, Mr. Etheridge, at that time gave me a specimen of brown laminated substance, labelled “Lignite, the so-called White Coal, Australia,” and drew my attention to the fact that it was very largely composed of small seed-like bodies, very similar to, although smaller than, the macrospores of Flemingites, which are to be seen in many kinds of British Coal. A specimen of this same kind of White Coal is in the Museum of Practical Geology, and is labelled, “ Bituminous Shale (locally called White Coal), New South Wales, Australia.” I have likewise been able to examine the specimen of Tasmanite also in this Museum, which is labelled “ Tasmanite; combustible matter from the river Mersey on the north side of Tasmania; stratum of unknown thickness, but known to extend for some miles. Presented by Sir Won. Denison.” These specimens are very similar in appearance and structure, but the White Coal is softer than the Tasmanite. Chemical analyses of Tasmanite have been published, but I am not aware of any satisfactory account of ’its microscopic structure. The only mention of Australian White Coal with which I am acquainted is that in Prof. Huxley’s lecture on “On the Formation of Coal” (“Contemporary Keview,” Nov. 1870). And there is a figure, of a section and some separated spores, given by Sir C Lyell in the 2nd edition of his Student’s Elements of Geology, 1874.