Miscellanies. 397 



which are highly detrimental in most uses to which charcoal is usu- 

 ally applied — and of which it is almost impossible to avoid raking 

 more or less among coals made in pits covered with earth. 



In addition to the economy of wood, and the improvement in the 

 quality of coals — there is also an immense saving of labor in the use 

 of the kilns, which,'moreover, possess the advantage of operating at 

 all seasons of the year, and in any weather. 



In short, except the discovery of a bed of bituminous coal, which 

 would afford coke, proper for the different operations of iron making, 

 or of a method of using anthracite for this purpose, I know of noth- 

 ing that could promise so great and decided advantages to this im- 

 portant branch of the arts as this system of coaling. 



I have deemed this improvement of sufficient importance to others, 

 to think it ought to be productive of some trifling benefit to myself, 

 and have, therefore, appHed to government for a patent, which I ex- 

 pect to receive in a short time, when, if you desire it, I will forward 

 to you a copy of my specification for your Journal. 



I. am Sir, with high respect, your ob't. serv't. 



I. DoOHTTLE. 



Bennington, Vt, Nov. 22, 1829. 



2. Origin of Bituminous Coal. 

 (From the Rev. Sayrs Gazlay.) 



Oxford, Dec. 9th, 1829. 



To THE Editor. — A fact, with which I have recently become 

 acquainted, has satisfied me that bituminous coal is of vegetable or- 

 igin. 



Col. Scott, of Monongalia County, Va. who resides about eight or 

 ten miles West of Laurel-Hill, and consequently in the great Valley 

 of the Mississippi, in digging a well, on a level piece of ground, 

 half a mile from the Monongahela river, and about two hundred feet 

 above its waters, at the depth of thirty-four feet, dug through a stra- 

 tum of bituminous coal, and about five feet lower, came upon anoth- 

 er stratum of coal, in which he found a supply of water. Between 

 these strata of coal, and one and a half feet below the first, he found 

 a piece of wood the size of a man's arm, in a good state of preser- 

 vation, perfectly sound, and entirely natural, except its being a little 

 charred. It lay imbedded, in a kind of marie, which I judged to be 

 calcareous, and which may have prevented the wood from being min- 

 eralized. Having conversed with one of the men who dug the well, 



