REPORT OF DEPARTMENT OP METALLURGY. 261 



verted iuto sulphuric acid in the regular way. The residue, which gen 

 erally contains a valuable amount of coi)[)er, is thrn treated for that 

 metal. The manufacture of sulphuric acid is represented by a collec- 

 tion presented by the Merrimac Chemical Company of Boston, Mass. 

 It shows the lump and fine ore, the residue remaining after the extrac- 

 tion of the sulphur, the chamber acid, and the concentrated acid pro- 

 duced. 



Coal. — Mr. James Temple Brown, of the Museum stafl", was engaged 

 during the summer in making a collection to represent the coal mining 

 industry of the country. This collection contains many specimens 

 illustrative of the life of the coal miner as influenced by his occupation 

 and surroundings. And though the work was based mainly upon the 

 ethnological aspect of coal mining, the collection possesses many other 

 features which are of interest. 



It embraces the carbouite or natural coke and the bituminous coals 

 of the Jura-Triassic period from the Mesozoic formation of Virginia; the 

 cannel, gas, splint, bituminous, and semi-bituminous coals of West Vir- 

 ginia; the semi-bituminous and anthracite coals of Pennsylvania: an- 

 thracite from the Carboniferous formation of Rhode Island ; anthracite 

 from the Lower Carboniferous or Vesi>ertine of Virginia, and examples 

 of industrial coke from several localities. Whenever possible refuse or 

 extraneous matter, as slate, bone or bony, and bisulphide of iron (pyrite), 

 or " sulphur," was added to the suites of sami^Ies from many mines rep- 

 resented. As an illustration of the collections made, that from the 

 Philadelphia and Reading Coal and Iron Company of Pottsville will be 

 mentioned. It consists of coal, " run of mine," from the mammoth bed 

 in Kohinoor colliery, including a large piece weighing about three tons; 

 slate from both the roof and floor of the breast whence the coal was 

 taken ; the marketable sizes of coal as prepared in the breaker, includ- 

 ing buckwheat, pea, chestnut, small stove, large stove, egg, broken, 

 steamboat, and lump or furnace ; and three kinds of refuse, denomi- 

 nated " breaker waste " (embracing pieces of slate that form the layers 

 between the benches of coal), bony coal, and dust. The last named is too 

 fine to have auy commercial importance, and the first two were unavoid- 

 ably mixed with the coal when blasting it out in the mine. To this col- 

 lection of coal is added a very large and complete exhibit of the various 

 tools used by the coal miner, together with many specimens illustrating 

 his social condition. 



The names of the collieries which contributed to the collection, and 

 their locations, are as follows : Commencing east and i)roceeding south 

 we can trace the coal fields in their geological order. The old anthra- 

 cite mine at Newport, R. I., through the kindness of Prof. R. D. Lacoe, 

 of West Pittston, Pa., is represented by several pieces of very hard coal, 

 graphitic in its nature, and of steel-blue color. Exami)les of the hard 

 anthracite ot Pennsylvania were obtained from the Mammoth bed in 

 Kohinoor colliery, in the Shenandoah basin of the Middle Coal Field. 



