^96 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 



Fixed carbon 7i-9i 



Ash 3-93 



In comparison Connellsville coal shows : 



Moisture 1.260 



Volatile matter 30.107 



Fixed carbon 59- 616 



Ash ' . . . 8.233 



Sulphur 0.784 



While tests from a coking coal in Kentucky ranged in 



Volatile matter 30.060 to 37. 160 



Fixed carbon 54-740 to 62.100 



Moisture 2.000 to 8.000 



Ash. . 2.900 to 4.340 



Sulphur .- . . .494 to 1.475 



Thus showing these Tertiary coals far ahead in economic value. 



The average value of bituminous coal at Golden, Colo., for two years has 

 been $3.30 per ton; cost of mining and hauling, $2.57 per ton. In the East, 

 this grade of coal is worth, on an average, $1.22 per ton; cost of mining, $0.88. 



Connellsville coke at the ovens is worth $1.75 per ton, and a protective 

 freight tarijfif in favor of Colorado production of $20 to $45 per ton. 



With the above named freights, Gunnison County ought to get a share of that 

 business on a very profitable basis. 



Denver, Colo., January 8, 1883. 



ORIGIN AND CHARACTERISTICS OF PRECIOUS STONES. 



Before the Chemical Society of the School of Mines in Columbia College, 

 Professor Thomas Egleston, Ph.D., delivered a lecture, on precious stones, in 

 which he described their origin, characteristics and imitations. The history of 

 gems, the lecturer declared, was the history of nearly all the intrigues, wars and 

 good deeds of mankind since the world began. Many superstitions have been 

 attached to precious stones. The amethyst was considered a cure for drunken- 

 ness and was dedicated to Bacchus ; jasper was used as a charm by athletes. 

 Although the diamond is made of common carbon, no successful attempt has 

 been made to reproduce it. Its composition was discovered in 1694, and its 

 weight was determined by the weight of a bean found in the east called a carat. 



A diamond of more than ten carats is called princely ; a diamond of more 

 than 100 carats sovereign. There are not 1,000 known diamonds that weigh 

 over ten carats, and not twenty that weigh more than 100. The value of the 

 diamond is determined partly by color and partly by weight, and in this country 

 there is an absurd custom of considering no diamond worth having that is not 



