jects observed whilst staying in Cuba." An article entitled "A description of a Fossil Marine Vegetable, of the family Fucoides, in the Transition Rocks of North America, and some considerations in Geology, connected with it, with an engraved specimen of the Fucoides Alleghanienses." "A Description of an Ice Storm at Philipsburg, 1832." "On the Geology and Natural History of the North-eastern extremity of the Alleghany Mountain Range in Pennsylvania. These papers were illustrated with many beautiful drawings and sections. In the London and Edinburgh Phil. Mag., March, 1837, occurs a notice of a vein of Asphaltum Chapapote, called in the vicinity of Havana, bituminous coal. In the Philosophical Mag., London, an article "On the Carboniferous Series of the U. S. of North America, as to the actual position of the Old Red Sandstone in America." His first paper published in this country, was, it is believed, in the American Monthly Magazine, in 1832, entitled "Section of the Alleghany Mountains and Moshannon Valley, in Centre County, Pennsylvania." In the Trans. of the Geological Society of Pennsylvania, followed others of great interest, "On the Geological position of certain beds, which contain numerous Fossil Marine Plants of the family Fucoides, near Lewistown, Mifflin county, Pa.,' (1834.) "On the relative position of the Transition and Secondary Coal Formations in Pennsylvania, and description of some transition or Bituminous, Anthracite, and Iron ore beds, near Broad Top Mountain, in Bedford' county, and of a coal vein in Perry county, Pennsylvania, with sections." "Notices of the evidences of the existence of an ancient Lake," which appears to have formerly filled the Limestone Valley of Kishacoquillas, in Mifflin county, Penna.' "On the Mineral Basin or Coal Field of Blossburg, on the Tioga River, Tioga county, Penn." "Memoir of a section passing through the Bituminous Coal Field near Richmond, in Virginia." "Review of the Geological phenomena, and the deductions derivable therefrom, in 250 miles of sections, in parts of Virginia and Maryland. Also, notice of certain Fossil Acotyledonous Plants in the secondary strata of Fredericksburg," (Vir.)* In the Transactions of the American Philosophical Society he published Memoir of the Character and Prospects of the Copper Region of Gibara, and a Sketch of the Geology of the N. E. part of the Island of Cuba." "Notice of Fossil Arborescent Ferns of the family Sigillaria and other Coal Plants, exhibited in the Roof and Floor of a Coal seam in Dauphin county, Penn." "Notice of a Vein of Bituminous Coal (Chapapote) recently explored in the vicinity of the Havana, in the Island of Cuba." (This was jointly with Mr. Clemson.) In Silliman's Journal he published, "Notes respecting certain Indian Mounds and Earthworks in the form of Animal Effigies, chiefly in the Wisconsin Territory, U. S., with Plans and Illustrations." "Notice of a Model of the Western portion of the Schuylkill, or Southern Coal Field of Penn., in illustration of an Address to the Association of American Geologists, on the most appropriate modes for representing Geological Phenomena," (with illustrative sections.) In the Journal and Proceedings of the Acad. Nat. Sciences, "Table constructed from a few Meteorological Notes, chiefly in regard to the daily Mr. Taylor was the first to identify the Fredericksburg sandstone with "the oolitic group of Europe," and in this memoir (Trans. Geol. Soc. of Penna., Vol. I., p. 325, 1835,) he figures the genera of fossil plants of Fredericksburg, assigning them all to that formation. xviii BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF THE AUTHOR. temperature of noon, on the East Coast of the Isthmus of Panama, Port Royal, in Jamaica, and on the return voyage to New York, for the month of October, 1849." "Substance of Notes made during a Geological Reconnoisance in the Auriferous Porphyry region next the Carribean sea, in the Province of Veraguas and Isthmus of Panama," 1851, with maps. Also, a pamphlet on the Anthracite and Bituminous Coal in China, and several articles in Hunt's Merchants' Magazine and in some Reviews. At the time of his sudden illness, he was engaged in a paper entitled, “On a Vein of Asphaltum of Hillsborough, in Albert county, Province of New Brunswick," which he has left in an unfinished state, but which was so far complete as to justify its publication in the Journal of the Academy of Natural Sciences, 1852. CONTENTS OF THE INTRODUCTION. Proportionate areas of coal land in Europe and America, Proportionate areas of coal formations in the United States, Microscopic observations on the structure of coal, lignite and peat, Turbaries, peat-bogs-Tourbieres, peat-mosses, Peat in Ireland, France, Bohemia, Prussia, Bavaria, Wurtemburg, 196 211 PLAN OF THIS WORK. THE growing demand for the species of practical information which it has been our object in the following pages to concentrate, has often suggested itself to the author, and doubtless to numberless others. Perhaps in no country have more frequent inquiries been made in relation to COAL; to its infinite varieties, adaptations and modifications; its innumerable depositories and its geographical distribution, than in the United States of America. This desire, probably, originates in the circumstance that in no country has such rapid progress been made in the development of mineral fuel, not only for all domestic purposes, but as a powerful agent in every department of manufacturing industry; notwithstanding that enormous and almost unbroken forests still overshadow the land. The increasing demand and corresponding supply, the rapid expansion of the field of industrial operations, have no doubt awakened this solicitude for information, local, general, statistical, commercial and scientific, on the subject of coal. Acting under this impression the author has sought and gathered together the materials—a great number at least, to remedy the deficiency of which we speak. His design, at the outset, was limited to the collection of such coal statistics as seemed sufficient for his private guidance. As in all labours of this description, the materials, during the progress of the undertaking, accumulated to an extent far greater than was anticipated. An extended arrangement led to greatly increased labour. The sources of information as regards foreign countries, being remote, its acquisition is necessarily uncertain and tedious: in fact it has no limit, for every day furnishes new facts to be registered. The process never ends, because the elements are inexhaustible. We are reminded, however, by the bulk of the matter on hand that we have reached a point at which we may consign the work to the press. Preparing these pages in the United States, we are not unaware of the disadvantages which result from the want of access to many official European documents, and of reference to minor authorities such as rarely find their way into American libraries. We may, in some degree, counteract these deficiencies by communicating to European inquirers a great amount of information which our position has enabled us to acquire in America. These persons cannot but contemplate with interest the enormous extent of the |