206 Mr. R. C. Taylor on the Anthracite 



ously mentioned. It is commonly this description which, 

 being mixed with coal-dust and a fourth part of clay, is em- 

 ployed to form an artificial is ceconomical fuel. This being 

 moulded in the form of bricks and balls is sold in the shops 

 of Pekin. Wagon-loads of coal-dust are brought to that city 

 for this sole purpose. 



The coal merchants have also an intermediate quality be- 

 tween the classes 2 and 3. 



We cannot in this place recite the numerous details which 

 are furnished by these intelligent Fathers. Suffice it to add, 

 that nearly the whole of the properties and applications are 

 now in every- day use in the United States, and are familiar to 

 all. They are, in fact, the natural results suggested by quali- 

 ties possessed in common by the combustibles of remote parts 

 of the same globe. Even the modern method of warming all 

 the apartments of our dwellings, which we view as the result 

 of superior practical and. scientific investigation, was in use, 

 with very little deviation, centuries ago by the Chinese. Many 

 a patented artificial fuel compound both in Europe and Ame- 

 rica, has been in practical operation in China at least a thou- 

 sand years. 



4. Anthracite. — Another description of coal abounding 

 about thirty leagues from Pekin, but which was not then in 

 such general use there as the other kinds, is called by the 

 Chinese Che-tan. Che means a stone, but tan is the name 

 they give to wood-charcoal. Therefore, according to the ge- 

 nius of the Chinese language, this compound word signifies a 

 substance resembling or having the common properties of 

 stone and charcoal. There can be little difficulty here in re- 

 cognising the variety of coal which in our day has been de- 

 nominated anthracite, a compound word of similar meaning. 



The Chinese glance coal forms a remarkable exception to 

 the unfavourable conclusion prevailing against Oriental coal ; 

 and, according to more recent authority than those we before 

 cited, deserves to rank at the head of the list, in respect of its 

 purity as a coke, although in specific gravity it does not 

 come up to the character of the Pennsylvania or Welsh fuel ; 

 neither has it the spongy texture which contributes much to 

 the glowing combustion of the latter. 



So late as 1840, a Russian officer has described the coal 

 formations of the interior, as occupying the western mountain 

 range of China, in such abundance that a space of half a league 

 cannot be traversed without meeting with rich strata. The 

 art of mining is yet in its infancy among the Chinese ; not- 

 withstanding which, coal is thought to be at a moderate price 

 in the capital. Anthracite occurs in the western range of 



