192 



ANTHRACITE 



bo considered as dipping SSE. at a moderate angle, the amount of which is not yet 

 clearly ascertained, so that in the natural sections afforded wo have bituminous coals 

 in the high grounds and anthracitic coals beneath. This fact is readily observed 

 either in the Ncath or Swansea valleys, where we have bituminous coals on the south 

 and anthracite on the north ; and more bituminous coal-beds on the heights than 

 beneath, some distance up those valleys those of the Nedd and Tawe. Though the 

 terms bituminous coal and anthracite have boen applied to marked differences, the 

 changes are so gradual that there is no sudden modification to be seen. To some 

 of the intermediate kinds the term ' froo-burning ' has been given, and thus three chief 

 differences have been recognised.' Memoirs of the Geological Survey. 



The term Culm is applied both to an inferior kind of anthracite only worked for 

 making lime, or for mixing with clay, and to the small pieces of good anthracite ob- 

 tained in working the true anthracite beds. It is also called Blind Coal, Glance Coal, 

 and Kilkenny Coal. 



The term Culm is applied generally to anthracite in our parliamentary returns. 



There are three very distinct ' trades ' in anthracite. There is, first, that where 

 the coal is sold exactly as it is worked, ' through and through,' as it is termed, or 

 Through Culm, which is used entirely for lime-burning. This coal is not of so pure a 

 kind as that from which the large coal is picked out, and is sometimes called Bastard 

 Stone Coal. The trade in the Neath district is entirely of this kind. In Swansea 

 and Llanelly it is partly of this kind, and partly of the kind where the large coal is 

 picked out, and sold as Stone Coal for the various purposes to which that coal is 

 applied, leaving the small to be shipped, also for lime-burning purposes, under the 

 name of Stone Coal Culm. In Pembrokeshire no ' through culm ' is shipped. There 

 is one curious lot of 4,000 tons annually shipped in Swansea under the name of Lamb- 

 skin, which is almost dust ; it is sent to one market Cardiganshire, where it is used 

 entirely for mixing with clay ; the mixture, under the name of Fireballs, being used 

 for household purposes. This mixture, made of the ordinary Stone Coal Culm, is also 

 very commonly used in parts of Pembrokeshire and Caermarthonshire. 



Anthracite coal is obtained in the western divisions of the South "Wales coal-field, 

 at Bideford in Devonshire, at Walsall in Staffordshire, in Ireland, and in Scotland, 

 in Switzerland, Savoy and Italy. Commencing at the top of the Neath valley, and 

 following the north crop of the South Wales coal-field downwards to Kidwelly, from 

 east to west, there are 48 anthracite collieries and in Pembrokeshire there are 16 

 of these collieries. It is found abundantly in America. Professor H. D. Roger's 

 ' Transactions of American Geologists ' states that in the great Apalachian coal-field, 

 extending 720 miles, with a chief breadth of 180 miles, the coal is bituminous towards 

 the western limit, whore it is level and unbroken, becoming anthracitic towards the 

 south-west, where it is disturbed. Anthracitic coal is also found in the coal-fields of 

 France, especially in the departments of Isere, the High Alps, Gard, Mayenne, and of 

 Sarth; about 42,271,000 kilogrammes (of 2-2046 avoirdupois pounds each) are 

 produced 'annually. Anthracite is also raised in Belgium. 



The following analyses of bituminous and anthracite coals will sufficiently show the 

 differences: 



