CHEMICAL REPORT.



erally soften ard swell too much for this use, and their coke
consequently will not support the burden in the high furnace.
  But the so-called splint, or semi-cannel coal, known in Indiana
as "s block coal," of which variety there is a vast quantity in
Kentucky, characterized by its laminated structure and firm con-
sistence, softens and swells less than the soft bituminous coal
when exposed to heat, becoming a dense, firm coke with small
pores, and consequently it is largely used without coking in
the smelting of iron.
  The softer and purer varieties of this coal, such as are found
in Pike and other counties, are admirably adapted to the pro-
duction of good coke, which compares most favorably with the
best and most celebrated cokes of Pennsylvania. (See context,
Bell and Pike counties, and Table II.)
  Cannel coal, when heated, gives off without softening much
combustible gas, which burns with a clear, luminous flame, from
which it derived its name-cannel (Scotch) or candle coal. It
owes this peculiar property to the fact that it contains oxygen in
large proportion to its hydrogen and carbon. The soft bitumin-
ous coal, on the other hand, contains but little oxygen; its gas,
mainly composed of hydro-carbons, burns with a more smoky
flame, and it appproaches in physical properties the " bitumens"
proper.
  Anthracite coal is not to be found in Kentucky. This con-
tains little or no volatile combustible matter, being mainly
carbon and of the nature of a dense, compact coke.  The
Broad Top coking coal of Pennsylvania approaches anthracite
in its large percentage of fixed carbon. (See Table III, and
under Pike county.)
  In the analysis of coals much depends on the collection of
average samples of the bed. This has been carefully done in
most cases, and in some samples of the several benches or
layers have been separately collected and analyzed.
  Of the nineteen cokes which have been analyzed, sixteen are
from eight counties in Kentucky, and two are of the Jellico
Mountain Coal and Coke Company's coke. The analysis of the
celebrated Connellsville coke of Pennsylvania is copied from the
Special Report L, of the second Pennsylvania Geological Survey.
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