Daily Democrat and news. [volume] (Davenport, Iowa) 1859-1864, 1860-09-13
~.

remaining uuo0vSSV&Seus UOu tUc kIeSASt
promises of the future, it may be said to
be still in its infancy. There are few
who can think Of the immense fields Of
coal already discovered beneath the sur
lace in America, Europe ,snd .ome parts
Of Asia, and Australia, without at once
revertine TO the question how came this
supply Of fuel to be garuered 10 its Sec
ret chambers ? In answer. it is now
universally conceded that oil the coal
reds, both bitimous and anthracite, are
Of vegetable origin, and the most prob
able theory is that which ascribes them
10 submerged forests, or other vegetable
deposits, pressed down into compact
masses, aud passing through the inter
mediate state Cf peat, becomes gradually
consolidated into coal. The character
Of the vegetation can be easily traced by
the quality Of the deposit, and shows
even a greater variety than that now
growing upon the earth's surface. This
vegetable origin is now readily detected
in sil the formations more than four
hundred different varieties of plant
trees and shrubs, having been discovered,
a number of which are DOW extinct.
Some coal beds appear to have been for
med from grasses, shrubs and and the
shed foliage of trees, not structure oil
any size being tracable in tue mass az
if the leaves and waste foliage of forest
bad gradually accumulated in basin
or lake, where the deposit had uuder'
gone a process Of fermentation by which
vegetable substances are changed to a
carbonaccOas mass similar to the peat
boys and then by some mighty convul-
sion of nature it had been subjected to
tremendous pressure which gave it a
new form and character, and preserved
for the subsequent ages. In other for
nations the traces OF forests are distinct
ly visible. The huge trunks Of mighty
tees supposed to be without a parallel
on ths earth until recent discoveries on
the Pacific coant have almost matched
them, can be found spread out in all the +
gigantic proportions, except that the
cellular tissues seem to have been par
TALLY closed by the enormous pressure.
Science has brought this investigation
to such pc mt OF exactness, by saving
the coal into thin layers and oiling the
surfaces, that even the name Of the sew
etal trees can be readily given, and the
olne, the birch, &C., can be pointed out,
with the very shape Of the trunk and
branches, and the size and location Of
the roots, running down into the earthly
matter below the clear mss. Not only
this, but even the annual rings, making
the growth of the tree can be pointed out
in many specimens, and one geologist
reports the discovery near Bonn Of a
fossil trunk containing 1872 Of these an
nual circles
The anthracite coal has evidently
been subjected 10 q greater heat during
it's TO, alton than many of the lighter
qualities, and the vegetation seems to
have been decomposed 10 different
process, while it was mixed with argyll
iaceous aud other earthly substances ;
bus there is a strong probability from
the similarity of the geological attend
ants, that the cuange took place with
each at about the same period. Most
biologists are nov agreed that the an
thricite, semi an,hricite and bitu,ninous
coal, we're originally Of precisely the
same character, but that the anthracite
has snce been subjected to heat, dis.
charging the b tumen while some
MAINTAIN that the change is still going
ON, and that after the lapse of ages all
the bi,uminous would in the end become
anthracite. Several things appear to
be we'll established with regard to these
deposits. The vegetable growth on the
earth's surface which formed their foun.
dat'on, was Of extraordinary abundance,
and at or about the time Of the char e
this mass must have become complete
Iy saturated with, or totally submerged
IN water,tbe coal being found embedded
in alluv'al deposits, or coated with such
tokens, as clay ardened TO slate.
Some of our readers who are still in
the prime Of life, may remember the
ridicule which was thrown upon the
early attempts TO burn the "stone COAL
AS the anthracite was called on its first
introduction. Without the means Of
close confinement and strong draught
of air, ignition was tedious process,
and the attempt sometimes totally failed,
when the vendors of the fuel were anatb-
ematized in the strongest terms. The
invention of cylinder stoves soon
changed the public estimate of its char
acter, but Tor long period the carly
experimenters remained totally incrcdu.
lous in regard to its value.
We have said that the coal trade in
this country was yet in its infancy. a
few statistics will establish this more fol-
". The coal fields of the United States
are covered by an area Of nearly $780,
900 square miles, while in Great Britain
Inc extent is only 1859, in Spain 3,4Os,
10 France 1919, and IN Belgium SIS
square miles. Now in Great Britain the
annual production of coal IS over 4O,-
100000 tons, and even in Belgium
about 100000 tons; while in the
United States the last annual yield was
only 7,5l7,5l6 of sIthl acite, and l ,091,
O6S of other descriptions !! With a
coal area twelve miles greater than that
Of Great Britain, our annual production
has now reached only one-s,xth of hers,
q di-parity due to the fact that this is q
new country, still abouudiog in wood
while the facilities for m,u'ng and de-
livering coal are Of comparatively re-