42 Geology of Massachusetis. 
of combination, either with the carbon, or in the water which the an- 
thracite contains; and it is liberated by the heat. The great difficulty 
in the use of anthracite, consists in igniting it: a difficulty which has 
almost disappeared before the ingenuity of our countrymen. In 
urope, anthracite has been described as of little value: with the 
exception, perhaps, of Killkenny coal. But our anthracite is either 
of a quality superior to the European, or we have learned better 
methods of employing it. All the coal obtained from the inexhaust- 
beds of that mineral along the Susquehannah, Lehigh, and 
Schuylkill, in Pennsylvania, is anthracite; and wherever it is skill- 
fully used, I believe it is decidedly prefered to the best bitaminous 
coals of England, or the United States. The coal from Rhode 
Island, (chiefly from Portsmou th, at the north end of the island,) i is 
also anthracite. The Worcester coal belongs to the same species: 
indeed, every enlightened man in this country now regards our an- 
thracite as a great national blessing. But in Great Britain, their 
geological writers speak of the seiicsnian found in Ireland and on 
the European continent, as ‘¢ carbonaceous matters, that can never be 
profitably worked, so as to become objects of statistical interest.”— 
(Ure.) And Mr. Conybeare, in his admirable view of the English 
coal formations, speaks of the deposit of bituminous coal, as ‘the only 
one capable of being applied to purposes of extensive utility, which 
appears to exist in the whole geological series.” Is not this an ex- 
ample of that hasty generalization, to which geologists are so prone? 
A third sort of coal is commonly enumerated, called lignite, con- 
sisting of wood partially carbonized, and still retaining its form, more 
or less distinctly. All the kinds of coal, that have been mentioned, 
are found in Massachusetts; the lignite on Martha’s Vineyard; the 
bituminous coal on the Connecticut river, particularly at South Had- 
ley ; and the anthracite at Worcester, and in small ages in the 
north part of Middleborough, in Bridgewater, and West Bridgewa- 
ter; and near the line of the State in Cumberland, mica Island.* 
But do they occur in sufficient quantity and of such quality, as to 
render them of any statistical value? 
Siesta 2 (1A eto One oes ee ee ee 
* Also in the sandstone at = oe level. Within a few weeks it has 
likewise fae stated, that good 
Brain: 
, of some sort and in great abundance, exis's in 
ee hrough the pies of a scientific friend, residing in vicinity, L 
learn that a company are about boring the rocks near the Rev. Mr. Perkins’ Meet- 
€ House in search of coal; and he was fae that in digging several wells, in the 
hbor! a substance was found mbling aes which “ burnt with a bril- 
Viant flame and a strong-sulphurous yates ”’ although he could not obtain a specimen. 
