f cannel coal
which had about that time been introduced for gas making. This substance
was called Boghead gas coal or Torbane Hill mineral, from the place where
it occurred, which is at Bathgate in Linlithgow. This mineral was found to
yield a large amount of paraffin oil and solid paraffin on destructive
distillation, and from that time (1850) to this, the industry has been
carried on at Bathgate and other parts of Scotland, where similar
carbonaceous deposits occur.

It may seem a matter of unimportance at the present time whether this
Torbane Hill mineral is a true coal or not. About forty years ago,
however, the decision of this question involved a costly law-suit in
Edinburgh. The proprietor of the estate had granted a lease to a firm,
conveying to the latter the right to work coal, limestone, ironstone, and
certain other minerals found thereon, but excluding copper and all other
minerals not mentioned in the contract. The lessees then found that this
particular carbonaceous mineral was of very great value, both on account
of the high quality of the gas, and afterwards on account of the paraffin
which it furnished by Young's process of distillation. Thereupon the
lessor brought an action against the lessees, claiming L10,000 damages, on
the ground that the latter had broken the contract by removing a mineral
which was not coal. Experts gave evidence on both sides; some declared in
favour of the substance being coal, others said it was a bituminous shale,
while others called it bituminated clay, or refused to give it a name at
all. Judgment was finally given for the defendants, so that in the eye of
the law the mineral was considered a true coal. As a matter of fact, it is
impossible to draw a hard and fast line between coal and bituminous shale,
as the one is connected with the other by a series of intermediate
minerals, and the Torbane Hill mineral happens to form one of the links.
It contains about 69 per cent. of volatile matter, and leaves 31 per cent.
of residue, consisting of 12 parts of carbon and 19 of ash.

The manufacture started by Young has developed into an important industry,
in spite of the fact that the original Torbane Hill coal has become
exhausted, and that enormous natural deposits of petroleum are worked in
America, Russia, and elsewhere. There are now some fifteen companies at
work in Scotland, representing an aggregate capital of about two and a
half million pounds sterling. Bituminous shales