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310 | SCIENCE. 
thrusting weapon of some kind; as a sword, 
dagger, or large knife. ‘The other specimen is 
part of some round, awl-shaped implement ; 
and a small fragment of the bone handle in 
which it was fixed yet remains attached to it. 
The bureau is also in possession of another 
rudely hammered, small iron chisel or celt, 
found under somewhat similar conditions in a 
mound in the same section. 
It is evident, from what has been stated, 
that we cannot ascribe the presence of this 
metal to an intrusive burial. ‘The people who 
dug the pit, deposited here their deceased chief, 
or man of authority, and placed around him, 
and those buried with him, the pipes, celts, 
axes, engraved shell-gorgets, and other imple- 
ments and ornaments, undoubtedly placed 
here, also, the pieces of iron. 
Whether the burials were comparatively 
modern or pre-Columbian, the evidence fur- 
nished by these fortunate finds compels us to 
conclude that the people who made these pol- 
ished celts and axes, who carved these pipes, 
who made or at least used these copper imple- 
ments, and engraved these shells with the 
figure of the mystic serpent, so strongly re- 
minding us of Central-American figures, also 
had in possession these iron implements, and 
were mound-builders. That this burial-pit was 
made by the same people who erected the 
mounds of this region cannot be doubted. 
Cyrus THomas. 
PENNSYLVANIA ANTHRA CITE. 
Some of the commonest articles used, either 
for manufacturing purposes or in the house- 
hold, are frequently those about which we have 
the least definite information as to their com- 
position or value. Near the point of produc- 
tion or manufacture, the consumer is apt to 
exhibit the most discriminating judgment in 
the selection of special brands or grades, on 
account of closer competition and a greater 
variety from which to make a selection. This 
is frequently done on the basis of a personal 
estimate, without substantial facts to warrant 
it. To no natural product does this apply 
with greater force, at the present time, than to 
the Pennsylvania anthracites, which are now 
depended upon by manufacturers and house- 
keepers, either as a necessary or luxuriant 
fuel, throughout portions of the entire western 
continent, and are used at points as distant as 
China and Japan. 
Both the manufacturing and domestic con- 
sumers are beginning to realize the fact that 
their coal purchased this year does not seem 
to burn so freely, does not fire with so little 
trouble, and does not last so long, as that pur- 
chased during the last and previous years, or 
vice versa. Where coals of different sizes, 
or from different districts, are offered to the 
trade by the same or competing salesmen, the 
question suggests itself, what shall we buy? 
Among housekeepers, who are the smallest 
and most numerous class of consumers, dis- 
tinction is seldom recognized between these 
anthracites. By other consumers the coals are 
grouped into those, which, when burned, will 
produce either a white or a red ash, special- 
qualities being arbitrarily attached to each. 
Others, again, know only of three varieties: 
1°, those from the Wyoming and Lackawanna 
fields, or the coals shipped from the north- 
ernmost basins over the railroads running 
through north-eastern Pennsylvania direct to 
New York (notably, the Delaware, Lacka- 
wanna, and Western, Delaware and Hudson, 
and Erie railways) ; 2°, those shipped by the 
Lehigh valley railroad, and the Central rail- 
road of New Jersey, down the Lehigh valley ; 
and, 3°, those over the Philadelphia and Read- 
ing railroad down the Schuylkill valley. Still 
other distinctions are arbitrarily made, which 
it is not necessary to note. In special locali- 
ties, where a favorite coal is largely used, the 
consumer will speak of one class, that com- 
posed of his favorite coal, which possibly comes 
from two or three collieries, with a total aggre- 
gate annual production of less than a million 
tons; and of a second class, that composed of 
the coals from all other collieries, represented 
by an annual production of over thirty million 
tons. I have noticed this particularly in sec- 
tions of New England, where even an intelli- 
gent consumer will sometimes speak of Lykens 
valley coal and of all other Pennsylvania an- 
thracites. . 
The pressing demand which has been made 
upon the Geological survey of Pennsylvania, 
for some answer as to the fuel-value of different. 
coals, has led me to consider what is the com- 
position of Pennsylvania anthracite, as a pre- 
liminary step in the investigation. 
Various percentages of fixed carbon have 
been assigned by different authorities to a 
typical anthracite. That which has been most 
generally accepted has been about 94, with all 
the accidental impurities, such as those which 
are generally classified under ash and sulphur, 
eliminated. Professor Rogers (Final report of 
first survey, vol. ii. pp. 969, 970) gives analyses 
of fifteen specimens of hard, dry Pennsylvania 
anthracite, which show an average, of fixed 
carbon, 88.05; of volatile matter, 5.81; of — E 
(Vou. Ilk, Nowase 
