308 ANTHRACITE COAL-FIELDS. 
what are called dinJcers^ which a white heat pro- 
duces in all the red-ash coals. On these accounts 
it is better suited for stoves and for manufacturing 
purposes. This is the product of the northern por- 
tion of the first or Schuylkill, as well as of the other 
two fields. 
The consumption of anthracite coal is rapidly 
increasing. It is superseding all other kinds of fuel 
in a considerable part of this country, for almost 
every purpose. It is now very generally used for 
domestic purposes upon the seaboard. In station- 
ary steam-engines it is now a common fuel, and in 
locomotives it is daily becoming more general. 
During the last year it has been effectually intro- 
duced into steamboats. It is the common fuel in the 
coal regions for blacksmiths' forges, in preference 
to any other; and it has lately been introduced 
with success in the manufacture of iron ; in Wales 
on a large scale, in this country on a scale suffi- 
cient to prove its economy. It may be fair to put 
the saving in the use of anthracite coal instead of 
wood as high as 50 per cent. 
" The progressive consumption of anthracite coal, 
for the first 15 years after its introduction into use, 
was quite extraordinary, amounting to about 33 per 
cent, per annum. For the last three years the in- 
crease has been only about 16 per cent, per annum. 
About 830,000 tons were consumed in 1838. As 
our forests, too, disappear, and as the demand for 
timber for building purposes increases, the con- 
sumption of coal must also increase ; and the pe- 
riod is fast approaching when its importance to us 
may not be less than is that of the collieries* of Eng- 
land to her." 
* Prof. H. Vethake. Dictionary of Commerce, No. III. 
