82 Anthracite Coal of Rhode-Island. 
Pennsylvania.—Its colour, however, inclinesto red, instead of 
This result is given from the trials made with the coal re~ 
cently from the mines. I tried also, that which had lain ten 
years ina dry and warm garret, and a portion of which had fail- 
ed, in my first experiments, to afford me any gas. _ This coal, 
without being moistened, when placed in. the furnace upon 
ignited charcoal, soon became itself intensely ignited, produ- 
cing a very hot fire, with a So Raat flame, but much inferior 
in amount and in brilliancy to that produced by the wet 
coal. ‘The stove is at this moment (April 11th, 1826, eve- 
ning,) burning with much bright flame, and giving a a heat i in 
the apartments of 74°, while the thermometer is in the ppan 
air 11° below See) ; the ground being covered with snow,* 
as in mid winter 
The question ‘will immediately occur, why does the Rhode- 
Island anthracite give less gas in chemical processes, sper that 
of Pennsylvania, and quite as much flame while burn 
The following appears to me to be the reason. The] se 
, : acites are very compact—there is a perfect con- 
tmuity of parts—no pores or cracks are perceptible, even 
with a magnifier, and when immersed in water, they do not 
emit common air, or become heavier by imbibition. Just 
the abe. oppost of all this, is true of the Rhode-Island anthra- 
Although, in the main, compact, it is full of fissures, 
iawn can he found where they do not occur every 
half inch or inch. I immersed in water some portio ortions of 
that which had been kept so long in the dry garret; the air, 
forced out by the entrance of the water, immediately issued, 
with a hissing and. singing noise, from imnumerable cracks 
and pores, s, and this process went on for a long time. When 
other pieces, recently from the mine, were. immersed, there 
was no such eflect. At least, this was true of the more solid 
pievet from these, when BSR scarcely an air bubble es- 
pieces of a looser texture were treated in the 
same manner, | emitted a good deal of air, but much less 
ao what was given out by the coal, that had been drying 
for a series of years. The Lehigh. chal: when immersed in 
= Peieaay: April ries there was = bt snow storm nearly all day ; the 
rene if none e of it melted, would p bably have been 12 inches deep. 
