190 



DESCRIPTIVE MINERALOGY. 



Coal. Ckaveland and Phillips - 



COAL. 



• Houille. Haiy and Beiidant. — Bituminous Mineral Coal. TTumpson and 

 Jameson. — Haraige Stein-Kohle. Mohs. 



Description. Colour black or brown, often with an iridescent tarnish. Streak shining. 

 It occurs massive, ligniform, and rarely in columnar concretions. Fracture earthy, con- 

 choidal, slaty and uneven. Lustre resinous or semi-metallic. Opaque. Sectile or brittle. 

 Hardness from 1.0 to 2.5. Specific gravity from 1.20 to 1.30. It burns with a whitish 

 flame, yielding much smoke and a feeble bituminous odour ; the products of the combustion 

 being chiefly carbonic acid, water, and a little sulphurous acid. It often contains also some 

 earthy matters. . 



Varieties. There are several varieties of this mineral, as Slate coal, Cannel coal, Foliated 

 coal, Pitch coal, etc., but they are seldom observed in our limited localities. 



Composition. Newcastle Coal — Carbon 75.28, hydrogen 4.18, nitrogen 15.96, oxygen 

 4.58 {Thomson). 



Cannel Coal — Carbon 83.75, hydrogen 5.66, oxygen and nitrogen 8.04, ashes 2.55 

 {Richardson and Regnault). 



Splint Coal — Carbon 82.92, hydrogen 6.49, oxygen and nitrogen 10.86, ashes 0.13 

 {Richardson and Regnault). 



Geological Situation. When in workable beds, it is similar to the preceding ; but in thin 

 veins and small masses, it is found in lower series of rocks. 



LOCALITIES. 



CiiAUTAUQUE County. The bituminous slate through which the carburetted hydrogen gas 

 issues in the vicinity of Fredonia, and elsewhere in this county, often contains thin seams of 

 coal, which burns freely, and of course is of the bituminous kind. It seems, however, to be 

 either wholly or in part composed of a hardened petroleum, as it gives out a stronger odour 

 than anj' of the varieties of coal with which I am acquainted. Sometimes these seams are 

 several inches in thickness, and from some of the excavations a bushel or more of the coal 

 has been obtained. 



Erie County. The pyritous shale, which abounds here, contains thin layers of coal simi- 

 lar to those found in the preceding county, and the same remark applies to similar formations 

 in the counties of Madison and Onondaga. 



Thin seams of this mineral have also been observed in the counties of Livingston and 

 Seneca. In the latter, thuy are from a quarter of an inch to two inches in thickness, and 

 occur between the strata of shale and sandstone. 



Ulster County. In the town of Woodstock, on the eastern face of tlie Catskill mountain, 

 a vein of coal was found, about eight inches thick, and it extended for some distance on the 



