42 Geology of Massachusetts. 
of combination, either with the carbon, or in the water which the an- 
thracite contains; and itis liberated by the heat. The great difficulty 
in the use of anthracite, consists in igniting it: a difficulty whieh has 
almost disappeared before the ingenuity of our countrymen. In 
Europe, 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 obtaimed from the inexhaust- 
ible 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 preferred to the best bituminous 
coals of England, or the United States. ‘The coal fram Rhode 
Island, (chiefly from Portsmouth, at the north end of the island,) 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 anthracites 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 quantities, in the 
north part of Middleborough, in Bridgewater, and West Bridgewa- 
ter, and near the line of the State in Cumberland, Rhode Island.* 
But do they occur in sufficient quantity and of such quality, as to 
render them of any statistical value? 
* Also in the sandstone at the Southampton level. Within a few weeks it has 
likewise been stated, that good coal, of some sort and in great abundance, exists in 
Braintree. Through the kindness of a scientific friend, residing in the vicinity, I 
learn that a company are about boring the rocks near the Rev. Mr. Perkins’ Meet- 
ing House in search of coal; aud he was told that in digging several wells, in the 
neighborhood, a substance was found resembling coal, which ‘burnt with a bril- 
jiant flame and a strong sulphurous smell,” although he could not obtain a specimen. 
