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ON THE GEOLOGY OF THE BEAUFOET A^D EBBW VALE 

 DISTRICT OF THE SOUTH WALES COAL-FIELD. 



By Geoege Phillips Bevai^, Esq., M.D., F.G.S. 



(Continued from page 54.) 



In my former paper I endeavoured to describe the general appearance 

 and characteristics of the limestone, millstone grit, and Pennant rocks 

 of this coal-field, and shall now proceed to give a brief outline of the 

 coal measures themselves and their fossil contents. As I stated before, 

 the character of the coal is materially different in different parts of the 

 basin ; for instance, if a line be drawn from Merthyr to the sea in a 

 south-western direction, it will divide the basin into two unequal 

 portions, the eastern one containing bituminous coal, and the 

 western the anthracite. I do not mean to say that there is an exact 

 line of demarcation between the two kinds of coal, but merely that 

 such a boundary will seem to show pretty well where the two qualities 

 pass into one another. Curiously enough, too, in the western or 

 anthracite portion the seams are anthracitic in the northern 

 bassets, while the southern outcrops of the same veins are bituminous. 

 The anthracite is now in very great demand ; but, formerly, 

 people would have nothing to do with it, and there was even a law 

 passed to prevent its being burned in London, on account of its supposed 

 noxious qualities, and the idea that it was detrimental to health. It 

 differs from the bituminous coal principally in containing more carbon, 

 less bituminous matter, and less ashes ; and, as a consequence, is a much 

 cleaner-burning coal, "We may, however, dismiss the anthracite, as 

 this portion of the field is destitute of it. As will be seen in the section 

 appended further on, there are, in this district, about thirty seams of 

 coal of greater or less thickness, and as many courses or bands of iron- 

 stone. Before entering, however, on the sections and their contents, it 

 would be as well to describe briefly the mode of working the various 

 seams. Now, in a flat country, such as in the Staffordshire coal- 

 field, the coal is obtained by the sinking of a shaft or pit. 

 Tliis is the most usual way, and one which is largely practiced in South 

 Wales. As the seams generally run rather closely and compactly 



