55 



rhe English, and are therefore better adapted to the reduction of ores. They may, 

 generally, be used for that purpose without coking, when free from sulphur. 



The only anthracite coal in Wales (there is none in England of consequence — 

 one mine at Bideford is worked to a limited extent) is found about tsixteen miles from 

 Swansea, on the canal. It is used for mailing, for lime burning, and a small amount 

 for reducing iron ores. But for fuel never. I have often been .asked if we had 

 any bituminous coal in America, as it is known we consume so much anthracite- 

 About 350,000 tons of this species of coal are shipped annually, including culm, 

 which is by far the greater quantity. The term culm is applied to the fine an- 

 'hracite. 



December 7th. This morning early entered the anthracite mines belonging to 

 the British Iron Company ; one of the most powerful mining associations in Eng- 

 land. As the coal crops out in the "Oroni Tawe" the mines are worked by drifts. 

 but owing to the company's limited rights of soil in the valley, they were compelled 

 to commence the drift about 80 feet below the out crop, and it is raised 800 yards 

 before the coal bed is reached. It is there about four feet thick, but the dip soon 

 strikes too deep to be worked with much advantage by means of this drift, 

 which then ascends, by a steep inclined plane 60 feet to the thick, or 9 feet 

 bed. There are several strata of iron ore, of the argillaceous species, or clay iron 

 stone, alternating with the coal, varying from two to six inches in thickness and yield- 

 ing, on an average, about 35 per cent, of metal. We entered about one and a half 

 miles, but the whole extent of the galleries and chambers is much greater. A good 

 <leal of fire damp is found here, which I always supposed, till now, did not exist in 

 anthracite mines. All the galleries are provided with doors, which are closed or 

 opened as may be necessary, to give a proper direction to the current of air, which 

 is forced in through a long trunk, something like an adit, by a contrivance similar 

 in size and appearance to a " ivheat fan mill," kept in constant motion night and 

 day, by a large over-shot water wheel. There is always more or less of carbaretted 

 hydrogen or fire damp through the workings, and in the chambers where the venti- 

 lation is not perfect, as may be seen by the sparks emitted from your candle and the 

 yellow halo that surrounds it. It is essential to your personal safety, if Davy's lamps 

 ajc not borne by the guides, that the flame of the candles should be often examined, 

 for if they burn blue blazes you are in imminent danger, and should immediately 

 retreat, or throw yourself down flat on the floor. You should also be careful Hot 

 to carry the lights too high, as the damp being light occupies the upper stratum. 

 We were taken into the chambers, wheie it was supposed this formidable enemy 

 had rested, with Davy's safety lamp, to see it burn and explode within the gauge, 

 quite innoxious. Nothing can be more safe and beautiful than the action of this 

 lamp, when in good order, and with its careful use no accident should occur ; but 

 unfortunately the persons, for whose benefit it was designed, are too often thought- 

 less and fool hardy, and pay with their lives the penalty of their temerity. In the 

 whole runge of chemical science there is, perhaps, nothing to compare with the 

 profound inductive reason and experimental research, which led to this most im- 

 portant discovery ; and never has that true philosophy which, content not with mere 



