248 



and results obtained now would have far more application and value 

 than those of Professor Johnson. 



The necessity and practical value of a new and complete examina- 

 tion of our American coals is evident from several recent articles upon 

 the subject, deploring our lack of information, among which may be 

 mentioned : 



Tbo Evaporative Power of Bituminous Coals, William Kent, Transaction Am. Soc. 

 Mech. Eng., Vol. iv, p. 249. 



Present State of the Subject, Heat of Combustion of Coal, B. F. Isherwood, Jour. 

 Franklin Inst. 1884,, Vol. cxvm, p. 5. 



Composition and Value of Pennsylvania Anthracite, C. A. Ashburner, Penn. 2d 

 Geol. Survey, Report of Progress AA, p. xxx. 



Report of Comparitive Merits of Anthracite and Bituminous Coal for Naval Use, 

 Senate Ex. Doc. 26, 48th Congress, 2d Sess. 



The Relative Value of Coals to the Consumer, H. M. Chance, Trans. A. I. M. E., Vol 

 xiv, p. 19. 



Classification and Composition Pennsylvania Anthracite, C. A. Ashburner, Trans 

 A. I. M. E., Vol. xiv, p. 716. 



Proposed Apparatus for Determining the Heating Power of Different Fuels, William 

 Kent, Trans. A. I. M. E., Vol. xiv, p. 727. 



The following extracts from letters to the curator also show the neoJ 

 of such an investigation. 



Mr. Ashburner, the geologist in charge of the anthracite survey of 

 Pennsylvania, says : 



The subject of the chemical, physical, steaming, etc., properties of American coals 

 is one of paramouut scientific and practical importance. This question has never 

 received the attention, as far as American coals go, that it demands. The work which 

 has been done by English and European chemists and physicists in determining the 

 true fuel value of coals has given us information in regard to the foreign coals of which 

 we are at present totally ignorant in regard to our native fuels. The work which was 

 done by Johnson was of great value for its day, but I regret to say that, in my opin- 

 ion, similar work, which has been engaged in by American investigators since John- 

 son's time has added very little of a practical nature to his results. The fuel value 

 which is put upon the coals (anthracite) by the trade is almost worthless ; in fact it 

 is worse than that, it is misleading. 



Prof. Edward Orton, Geologist of the Ohio Survey, says : 



I am greatly pleased to learn that you are about entering on the very important 

 line of work indicated in your letter. I am constantly reminded of the incomplete- 

 ness and inaccuracy of our best figures in this connection. 



As a further indication of the practical value of the investigation it 

 is only necessary to state that Mr. William Kent, an engineer of large 

 experience in and about Pittsburgh, Pa., estimates that $675,000 are 

 lost annually in Allegheny County, Pa., alone from the use of wasteful 

 methods of raising steam. This loss occurs in the use of only a little 

 over 1 per cent, of the coal production of the country. 



From a scientific standpoint the results of such an investigation 

 would have even more value than from an economic view. It is a 

 source of constant complaint that so little is known upon the subject 

 by writers and investigators. 



Such an investigation would be a very large undertaking, such as no 





