ection it is also
noteworthy that, equally as the Swedes make their tar from firwood, I have
here in England made from pit-coal a sort of tar which is equal to the
Swedish in every way, and for some operations is even superior to it. I
have made proof of it on wood and on ropes, and the proof has been found
right, so that even the king has seen a specimen of it, which is a great
thing in England, and the coal from which the tar has been taken out is
better for use than before."

This enterprising chemist, moreover, brought his results to a practical
issue, for he secured a patent, in conjunction with Henry Serle, in 1681,
for "a new way of making pitch and tarre out of pit-coale, never before
found out or used by any other."

No less interesting is the work of our own clergy during the last century,
when many eminent divines appear to have devoted their leisure to
experimental science. Thus, about the year 1688 the Rev. John Clayton,
D.D., Dean of Kildare, went to examine a ditch two miles from Wigan in
Lancashire, the water in which had been stated to "burn like brandy" when
a flame was applied to it. The Dean ultimately traced the phenomenon to an
escape of inflammable gas from an underlying coal seam, and he followed up
the matter experimentally by studying the destructive distillation of
Wigan coal in retorts. The results were communicated to the Hon. Robert
Boyle, but were not published till after the death of the latter, and long
after the death of the author. The following account is taken from the
abridged edition of the _Philosophical Transactions_ (1739):--

"At first there came over only phlegm, afterwards a black oil, and then
also a spirit arose, which he could noways condense, but it forced the
luting, or broke the glasses. Once, when it had forced the lute, coming
close to it to try to repair it, he observed that the spirit which issued
out caught fire at the flame of the candle, and continued burning with
violence as it issued out in a stream, which he blew out and lighted again
alternately for several times. He then tried to save some of this spirit.
Taking a turbinated receiver, and putting a candle to the pipe of the
receiver while the spirit rose, he observed that it caught flame, and
continued burning at the end of the pipe, though you could not discern
what fed the flame. He then blew it out, and lighted it again several
times; after which he fixed a bladder, flatted and void of air, to the
pipe