Faraday to Roderick Impey Murchison   31 January 1829

Royal Institution | Jany 31, 1829

Dear Sir

I have read your paper¹ & examined the schists & oil. The subject is a very curious one. So bituminous are some of the pieces & especially the brown stone that it fuzes & melts by heat almost as readily as coal itself, in some cases having not more than half its weight of earthy matter[.]

Ammonia in decided quantity can be obtained even from small quantities of the schist – and the oil itself contains a very considerable proportion but ammonia is now so common a thing almost every where that one hardly knows what to say of its presence[.] Thee quantity present in this case however & the presence of the fish perhaps would give one a very strong suspicion that animal matter had had to do with the bitumenization of the schist although we may be unable decidedly to prove it[.] There is much more ammonia obtained from this schist than from an equal quantity of coal[.]

I cannot find any other chemical indication of animal matter than the ammonia. If that could have been done it would have very much helped to settle the ideas[.]

I am dear Sir | Truly Yours | M. Faraday

R.I. Murchison Esq | &c &c

Endorsed: Faraday on the Seefeld Schist