SA Anthracite Coal of Pennsylounia. 
8. Phe heat is maintained with less trouble than in airy 
other way. Less frequent replenishing and less watching are 
necessary, and there is less annoyance from dirt and effiuvia, 
than in the case of any other fuel. 
In the case of the entry stove, the whole bustie and incon- 
venience of the fire are removed from the apartments, which 
may thus be kept as neatly as in summer, as there is no seri- 
ous annoyance to the most delicate drapery, clothes, or fur- 
niture. 
9. The halls and passages of the house may thus be kept 
permanently warm. ‘The cold of these spaces is unpleasant 
to the healthy, and very injurious to the infirm, whose comfort 
and safety are therefore in this manner essentially consulted. 
10. As this fuel will not burn without a strong draught, there 
is no annoyance from foul gases, which are necessarily car- 
ried up the chimney. It is not true however, as some 
imagine, that these gases are less injurious than- those from 
burning charcoal. They are equally noxious, and the very 
same ‘edly gas which is produced by burning charcoal, 
(the carbonie acid gas,) is generated in equal abundance by 
the anthracite. 
11. These anthracites are among the purest of all varieties 
of fuel. 
According to Professor Vanuxem’s analysis, the anthracite 
of Lehigh and that of Rhode Island* contains ninety per cent. 
of carbon, there being, strictly, but from three to five per 
cent. of incombustible matter—the rest being water.} 
It is not the object of the preceding remarks to depreciate 
the bituminous coals ; they are of great value, and they cer- 
tainly afford a heat more at eommand than the anthracites. 
Many will continue to prefer them for parlour grates, and 
from the abundant, bright, and hot flame, which they afford, 
there are some processes in the arts to which they are more 
peculiarly applicable. The territory of the United States is 
viehly furnished with bituminous coal, and although most of 
itis west of the Alleghany mountains, our rivers and canals, 
ca 
* Dr. William Meade many years ago stated nearly the same result 
‘with respect to the Rhode Island coal. See Bruce’s Min. Jour. 
+ I do not question the existence of combined water in coal, but if 
the above experiments are correct, there is probably in the anthracites, 
a considerable quantity of hydrogen besides what may proceed from the 
decomposition of water, by the ignited carbon. This accords also with 
Pr. Thompson’s opinton as to the bituminons edals. 
