190 
DESCRIPTIVE MINERALOGY. 
COAL. 
Coal. Cleaveland and Phillips — Houille. Haiiy and Beudant. — Bituminous Mineral Coal. Thompson and 
Jameson. — Harzige Stein-Kolile. Mohs. 
Description. Colour black or brown, often with an iridescent tarnish. Streak shining. 
It occurs massive, ligniform, and rarely in columnar concretions. Fracture earthy, con- 
choidal, slaty and uneven. Lustre resinous or semi-metallic. Opaque. Sectile or brittle. 
Hardness from 1.0 to 2.5. Specific gravity from 1.20 to 1.30. It burns with a whitish 
flame, yielding much smoke and a feeble bituminous odour; the products of the combustion 
being chiefly carbonic acid, water, and a little sulphurous acid. It often contains also some 
earthy matters. 
Varieties. There are several varieties of this mineral, as Slate coal, Cannel coal, Foliated 
coal, Pitch coal, etc., but they are seldom observed in our limited localities. 
Composition. Newcastle Coal —Carbon 75.28, hydrogen 4.18, nitrogen 15.96, oxygen 
4.58 (Thomson). 
Cannel Coal —Carbon 83.75, hydrogen 5.66, oxygen and nitrogen 8.04, ashes 2.55 
(Richardson and Regnault ). 
Splint Coal —Carbon 82.92, hydrogen 6.49, oxygen and nitrogen 10.86, ashes 0.13 
(Richardson and Regnault). 
Geological Situation. When in workable beds, it is similar to the preceding; but in thin 
veins and small masses, it is found in lower series of rocks. 
LOCALITIES. 
Chautauque County. The bituminous slate through which the carburetted hydrogen gas 
issues in the vicinity of Fredonia, and elsewhere in this county, often contains thin seams of 
coal, which burns freely, and of course is of the bituminous kind. It seems, however, to be 
either wholly or in part composed of a hardened petroleum, as it gives out a stronger odour 
than an}*- of the varieties of coal with which I am acquainted. Sometimes these seams are 
several inches in thickness, and from some of the excavations a bushel or more of the coal 
has been obtained. 
Erie County. The pyritous shale, which abounds here, contains thin layers of coal simi¬ 
lar to those found in the preceding county, and the same remark applies to similar formations 
in the counties of Madison and Onondaga. 
Thin seams of this mineral have also been observed in the counties of Livingston and 
Seneca. In the latter, they are from a quarter of an inch to two inches in thickness, and 
occur between the strata of shale and sandstone. 
Ulster County. In the town of Woodstock, on the eastern face of the Catskill mountain, 
a vein of coal was found, about eight inches-thick, and it extended for some distance on the 
