during twenty minutes. The sulphuric acid
decomposes the impurities, combines with
them, and precipitates them, or causes them
to gravitate to the bottom of the vessel.
Thoroughly to effect their separation, hot
water is added. They, being heavier than
the water, sink. The purer portion of the
tar, consisting of the oils and paraffine, floats
on the surface of the water, which thus
forms an intervening station of partition
between it and the dregs. The mixture of
paraffine and oils is now drawn and
distilled. The first half part of the products of
the distillation is set apart;  this consists of
the more volatile oil, mingled with some
foreign matters. The other half includes the
paraffine, together with the oil of the denser
sort. This latter product of the distillation
is allowed to cool; and then the paraffine
crystallises, and may be  discovered in the
form of flakes, diffused throughout the oil.
The mass is now subjected to pressure; and
thus the fluid oil is squeezed away from the
more solid paraffine. Here, then, it may be
supposed, we have the paraffine.  True ;
but we have it qualified with two very serious
drawbacks, — its colour is very bad and its
odour is worse.  To bleach and to deodorise
it, it is subjected to the operation of
chlorochromic acid, which has the twofold effect of
rendering it both clear and sweet.  The
paraffine is now the colour of butter; but,
at this stage of its preparation, another
obstacle is encountered.  It has passed into
an amorphous state; that is, it has lost its
consistent form; its translucency has also
been destroyed.  To restore these qualities it
is distilled once more.  Powerful hydraulic
pressure is then applied to it and, lastly, it
is exposed for a consideralble time to the
action of free steam.  And thus, in a
presentable shape, eliminated from a mass of
foul and fetid tar, we at last get the
paraffine.

The oils, both the portion of oil distilled in
the first instance from the tar, and that
subsequently separated by pressure from the
paraffine, have now to be purified.  They are
mingled together, and a quantity either of
caustic potash of soda or lime, is mingled
with them.  Lime is preferable on account
of its comparative cheapness. Having been
well stirred, the mixture is allowed to settle;
and then the oils are decanted, and sulphuric
acid is added to them. The sulphuric acid
combines with any portion of lime that may
be suspended in their substance, and throws
it down in the form of insoluble sulphate of
lime, and with it precipitates other remaining
impurities. The mingled oils are now finally
distilled, and bleached by chlorochromic
acid.   Of the product of  this ultimate
distillation the first sixty parts per cent
constitute the lighter oil, and the remaining
portion consists of that which is denser and
less volatile.

The gaseous products of the distillation of
the peat remain to be accounted for. They
amount for every one hundred tons of peat,
to six million cubic feet of mixed inflammable
gases, namely, carburetted hydrogen, olefiant
gas, and free hydrogen (this latter varying
according to the dryness of the peat),
together with carbonic oxide. With these are
mingled a certain proportion of nitrogen, and
a minute quantity of carbonic acid, both of
which are uninflammable; but their quantity
is too small, to interfere materially with
the inflammability of the whole. This mixture
of gases is conducted away in pipes, and used
for the fuel of the steam-engines and
the distilling apparatuses, and also to afford
sources of heat  for drying, steaming, burning
lime and other purposes, in the establishment
and its neighbourhood.

We have now- by the help of Mr. Reece-
resolved the bulk of our peat into its salt, oils,
spirit, and vegetable wax or sperm, and gases.
Nothing remains of it on the hearth of the
furnace but some three or four tons of "slag,"
which Is allowed to run out, as in the process
of smelting iron.

That  these products of peat are highly useful,
may be inferred from their commercial
value, above stated. Sulphate of ammonia is
employed in the preparation of the muriate,
carbonate, and other salts of ammonia used in
medicine, chemistry, and various arts and
manufactures.  It is also very generally
applied as a fertilising agent. Acetate of lime
is the source whence is obtained acetic or
pyroligueous acid, or distilled vinegar; calico
printers also make great use of it. Naphtha
is a substance in great request with hatters,
varnish-makers, and all who want a ready
and efficient solvent of gums and resins,
besides serving for combustion and illumination.
Paraffine, in virtue of its close
resemblance to the most beautiful wax or sperm,
and from its readily combining with those
bodies and most fatty matters by fusion, as
well as by reason of the whiteness and lustre
of the flame by which it burns, is a material
fitted for the manufacture of a most elegant
description of candles.  Its emitting no odour
in burning renders it peculiarly eligible for
illuminating purposes.  The more volatile oil
is, like the naptha, valuable as a solvent of
caoutchouc, gutta percha, and various resins
and varnishes: the more fixed oil may be
combined with tallow or palm oil, to make
grease for lubricating machinery; or mixed
with common oil to produce a cheap lamp-oil.
It is also convertible into the best kind of
lamp-black.

When the peat-bog has been cleared for
the purposes of the chemist, it must not
be forgotten that the soil laid bare is now
amenable to the operations of the husbandman.

The labour of cutting, and otherwise
preparing the peat, must, of course be a most
extensive source of industrial occupation, and
afford employment to a vast  number of