Ae ote a ee ee eee et ae . 
260 Review of Dr. Antisell’s Work 
i | fhe giutiike anthracite of Wales, the beautiful Albert coal*—but a 
step removed from asphaltum—of Hillsboro, New Brunswick; our common 
lignites, ; equently hadinn into peat, and the bituminous shales as frequently 
amon slate, as pol i 
ch ot 
ich are, in fay RIOR language at least, varieties of coal. 
eed so great that it ea f 1 ge Ity to choose any 
r of the medley as ntral point, or ev 
ideal coal to which all obtiet varieties shot Id be refe rel. In attempting any 
such selection a native of one of our sea-board states would assuredly lean 
towards anthracite; the South. Gecnan towards his "puesta nt lignites; the 
Scotchman towards his cannel; while Newcastle aben Bee S Lids 6 ial 
or td . vr they contain more an ydrogenous compounds. ea 
pearance of the mineral mean owl approwching more and more closely to 
that of ‘eid: while at the same time the value of ae fixed carbonaceous 
residue becomes less and less, soon ceaatie to be **coke” at all, but rather @ 
more or 
of gas and oil- and the a f earthy 
ping ieilgsa ,—taking the place rat the fixed c ston in our cyaieal caking 
coal, we pass into “ Biscionise shales: and these become less ans less bitumi- 
sd until at length we rea ach common clay slate containing n anic matter 
whatsoever. We have her Sat no fancy sketch. That the * cmt coals” * 
thus gradually pass into “bituminous les” is now well enough known, @ at 
least to gas en gineers and other , Proetieal observers, It would not for that 
matter be exceedingly diffi ult to obtain a continuous series of specimens 
exhibiting this almost i insensible gradation. Now did Mr. Young devote a 
attention to the distillation of caking cove nes to our typical ‘Newcastle ? 
y nomeans! On ‘he ¢ contrary We im occupied with a mineral which 
was called indifferently “shale” or oa? ntil it was in 1853 decided in @ 
Scottish court that it should eee be hea known as coal.f 
* On page 18 of Dr. A’s work the following rem “Tn one respect 
they [bitnsens) differ from coal. In no case can a eat peieal or srootre be be 
when the Vi 
ped n _ See Reports on the Geological Relati fh 
dcr oscopic detonation of the coal of the Albert Coal Mining Co., situat ted in 
Nesbi 0., WV. B., by Chas. T. pei eae New York: printed by 
es a 1851, p. ed Digi re this Journal, [2], xiii, 276. 
supposed, w on the above was ia heory that the decision of this.co 
had been sustained, le this a were mistaken appears fiom th e following, 
which eines a late number of the London eri of Gas 
