xt7fn29p338m https://exploreuk.uky.edu/dips/xt7fn29p338m/data/mets.xml Peter, Robert, 1805-1894. 18841876 books b97-22-37599275 English Yeoman Press, : [Frankfort : Contact the Special Collections Research Center for information regarding rights and use of this collection. Geology, Economic Analysis.Talbutt, John Holliday. Chemical report of the soils, marls, clays, ores, coals, iron furnace products, mineral waters, &c., &c., of Kentucky / by Robert Peter ; assisted by John H. Talbutt. text Chemical report of the soils, marls, clays, ores, coals, iron furnace products, mineral waters, &c., &c., of Kentucky / by Robert Peter ; assisted by John H. Talbutt. 1884 2002 true xt7fn29p338m section xt7fn29p338m

GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF KENTUCKY.

CHEMICAL ANALYSES.

FIRST, SECOND, AND THIRD CHEMICAL REPORTS, AND
CHEMICAL ANALYSES OF THE HEMP
AND BUCKWHEAT PLANTS.

BY ROBERT PETER, M. D., ETC., ETC., CHEMIST TO THE SURVEY,
AND JOHN H. TALBOTT AND A. M. PETER, ASSISTANTS.

STEREOTYPED FOR THE SURVEY
BY MAJOR, JOHNSTON & BABBETT.
YEOMAN PRESS, FRANKFORT, KENTUCKY.
i884.

This page in the original text is blank.

CONTENTS.

FAGS.
FIRST CHEMICAL REPORT ........................ 1
SECOND CHEMICAL REPORT ....................... 181
THIRD CHEMICAL REPORT ........................ 347
CHEMICAL EXAMINATION OF THE HEMP AND BUCKWHEAT PLANTS, 439

This page in the original text is blank.

PREFACE TO SECOND EDITION (NEW SERIES).

It being necessary to publish a new edition of the Reports
of the Geological Survey, it is thought proper to change the
arrangement of the reports in the several volumes. T[his is
advisable in order to bring together in one volume the several
reports relating to a given subject or locality. In the first
edition (second series) the volumes were made up of reports,
regardless of subjects treated, and in order to learn all that
may be published of a locality, the reader must examine sev-
eral volumes. For instance, the reports on the iron ores and
the iron manufacture of GreenU p, Carter, Boyd, and Lawrence
counties is in volume i, and the Report on the Geology of the
above named counties is in volume 2. The Chemical Reports
and the reports on the Timbers are scattered through four
volumes. This arrangement of reports could not have been
avoided in the early history of the Survey without a delay
in the publication of the volumes. It is thought that the
arrangement in this edition will more fully meet the wants
of the public, and will render the reports more valuable.
The first volumes of this edition will comprise the fol-
lowing: Chemical Analyses, Reports on the Eastern Coal
Field; Reports on the Western Coal Field; Reports on
Timbers. Other volumes will be published from time to
time, preserving the same order of grouping reports. Some
of the preliminary reports contained in the first edition have
been omitted, in order that there may be no duplication when
the final reports are published. I am of the opinion that
enough preliminary or reconnaissance work has been done
by the Survey, and the work will be directed with a view of
securing (so far as the means will permit) complete reports
on the geology, soils, timbers, etc., of the various regions

IV' PREFACE.

studied. As the stereotyped plates of the omitted prelim-
inary reports are preserved, new editions may be ordered
should there be a demand for them. A change has also been
made in the size of the volume by decreasing the size of the
margin, which, it is thought, will make the volume a more
convenient size, both for library use and for sending through
the mails.
JOHN R. PROCTER,
State Geologist.

GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF KENTUCKY.

N. S. SHALER,

DIRECTOR.

CHEMICAL REPORT

OF THF

SOILS, MIARLS, CLAYS, (RES, COALS, IRON FUR
NACE PRODUCTS, MINERAL WATERS, &c., &c.,
OF KENTUCKY,

BY ROBERT

PETER, M. D., &c., &C.,

CHEMIST TO THE KENTUCKY GEOLOGICAL. SU RVEY.

ASSISTED BY

JOHN H. TALBUTT,

S. B.. CHEMICAL

THE FIRST CHEMICAL REPORT IN THE NEW SERIES AND) THE FIFTH SINCE THE
BEGINNING OF THE SURVEY.

ASSISTANT.

This page in the original text is blank.

INTRODUCTORY LETTER.

CHEMICAL LABORATORY OF THE
KENTUCKY STATE GEOLOGICAL SURVEY,
LEXINGTON, KY., April i9th, i875.
Professor N. S. SHALER, Chief Geologist, &c..
DEAR SIR: I have the pleasure herewith to report the
results of the chemical work performed in this laboratory, for
the State Geological Survey, since September, 1873, to nearly
the present date. So much could not have been effected but
for the able and efficient assistance of Mr. John H. Talbutt,
who has given his constant attention to this labor.
Very respectfully,
ROBERT PETER.
3

CHEMICAL REPORT

OF THE

SOILS, MARLS, CLAYS, ORES, COALS, IRON FUR-
NACE PRODUCTS, MINERAL WATERS, &c., &c.,
OF KENTUCKY.

By ROBERT PETER, M. D., &c., &c.

In the eighty-six soil analyses, which are appended, only a
portion of ten counties of the State is represented, and the
greater number of these soils are not to be classed amongst
our most fertile. The limits of the range of variation of their
several constituents is shown in the following table, viz:

Pr. Ct.No. County. IPr. ct. No. County.

Organic and volatile matters vary
from. . . .. . . . 7.985 in 1300.f Boyd to I.815 in 1398 of Carter.
Alumina and iron and manganese
oxides vary from . 15.763 in 1396 of Carter to 2.740 in 1571 of Hardin.
Lime carbonate varies from. . . 3.890 in 1330 of Campbell to .045 in 1572 of Hardin.
Magnesia varies from .. . ... .520 in 1329 of Campbell to .034 in 1298of Boyd.
Phosphoric acid varies from . . 555 in 1424 of Fayette to fi45 In 1396 of Carter.
Phosphoric in t566of Ilardin.
Potash varies from . . . . . . .662 in 1396 of Carter to .o62 in 1325 of Campbell.
in 1327, of Campbell.
Soda varies from .. . . . . . 286 in 1407 of Carter to trace. in 1 567 of Hardin.
Sand and insoluble silicates vary
from. . .. 74.840 in 1396 of Carterto 92.455in 1634 of Ohio.
Water expelled at 380 F. varies
from. .. . .. . . .. 2.650 in 1558 of Hardinto.225 in 1572 of Hardin.
Water expelled at 2120 F. varies
from..5... .. .. . 75 in 1329 of Campbell to.800in 1571 of Hardin.

The extremes may represent very rich and very poor soils;
but not the general character of the soils of the counties
named.
4

CHEMICAL REPORT. 5

The method of analyses of the soils does not vary much
from that described in volume III of the Kentucky Geological
Reports. The principal object was, as there stated, to obtain
comparative results, which would enable the scientific agricul-
turist to form an opinion as to the chemical constitution of our
soils in their relation to husbandry; without attempting to
perform the almost hopeless task of giving all the minuter con-
stituents of each, or of presenting all those physical conditions
which exert so great an influence on their practical fertility.
To this end the several soils were treated as nearly alike as
possible: air-dried together, digested for an equal time at
nearly the same temperature in acid of a uniform strength,
&c., &c. The specific gravity of the chlorohydric acid used
being about i.io.
The process of digestion in water, containing carbonic acid,
was not employed in all, because of the press of work in the
laboratory, mainly. There can be no doubt, however, that, used
with proper care, this process will indicate the relative propor-
tion of soluble plant food in the soil at the time. As this may
very well vary, under different physical atmospheric conditions,
it was not considered of essential value in the comparative
analyses.
The well-known fact that various p/li'sical conditions exert a
powerful influence on the productiveness of soils which have
a similar chemical composition, has, in recent times. singularly
perverted the minds of chemists, and consequently of agricul-
turists, in relation to the value of soil analyses. Because the
chemical conditions of a soil are not the only ones necessary to
productiveness, they have, by a perverted lQgic, jumped to the
conclusion that these conditions are of no consequence what-
eve r.
But if these chemical conditions are indispensable to the fer-
tility of the soil, how much injury has been done in recent
years to the scientific study of the soil and of agriculture, by
the great outcry which has been raised against this kind of
investigation! The comparative chemical examination of the
soils of a State or country can only be made under the patron-
s

CHEMICAL REPORT.

age of the government. Individual efforts are inadequate to
effect it; nor could they, if adequate, so economically conduct
it. The writer believes that the geological survey of any
region should always include this study of the soils; yet very
little has been done in this direction in all the recent State
surveys, and a valuable opportunity has been lost, which in
many instances cannot recur, of studying the chemical con-
ditions of the virgin soil of various parts of our country.
Chemists are naturally somewhat averse to soil analysis; it
requires so much time andl labor, so much care must be taken
to secure accUracy. and there is so little variety in the work,
and so small an appreciation of its value and significance
amongst the people -whenl done, that they gladly avoid it.
But, in the course of time, most of them who are not too
much prejudiced against the teachings of experience, arrive
at the same conclusion with Prof.-Aug. Voelcker, of the Eng-
lish Royal Agricufltural College: "There was a time when I
thought with many other young chemists, that soil analyses
would do every thing for the farmer; three or four years of
further experience and hard study rather inclined me to side
with those men who consider that they are of no practical
utility whatever; and now, after eighteen years of continued
occupation with chemico-agricultural pursuits, and, I trust,
with more matured judgment, I have come to the conclusion
that there is hardly any subject so full of practical interest
to the farmer as that of the chemistry of soils. The longer
and more minutely soil investigations are carried on by com-
petent men, the greater. I am convinced, will be their practical
utility."-Jozur. of Rol,. Agr. woc. of Eng., i865.
Even Prof. S. W. Johnson, whose somewhat harsh criticism,
in x86i, of some of the former labors in this field of the writer,
seemed to sound the key-note of the clamor against this kind
of study in this country, has so far yielded his opposition as to
give us in his valuable work, "How Crops Feed," 1870, the
comparative analyses of several soils, and to point out the sig-
nificance of their chemical composition. But he is careful to
caution the reader, page 368, that although the analysis may
6

CHEMICAL REPORT.

-show the amount of the mineral fertilizers in a soil, it cannot
tell how much of them " is at the disposal of the present crop;"
and on page 27I: " These facts show how very far chemical
analysis, in its present state, is from being able to say defi-
nitely what any given soil can supply to crops, although we owe
nearly all our precise knowledge of vegetabic nutrition directly or
indirectly to this art."
He might very truly have added, that we should not be able
to say that a suitable chemical composition of a soil was not
the only condition necessary to its fertility, unless we had
thoroughly studied that condition. It is only by means of
chemical analyses that we find out the equally indispensable
nature of the physical conditions. He cannot fail to admit
that it is impossible to make progress in our knowledge of
the soil and its actions and conditions without a thorough
study of its chemical characters.
In accordance with this outcry against this sort of investi-
gation the difficulties of obtaining good samples for analyses
has been exaggerated. In a country like that of most of this
State, where there is comparatively but little quarternary or
transported material constituting the soil, and especially before
its character has been much altered by a dense population,
there is little difficulty, with the use of necessary precautions,
in obtaining representative samples of large areas similar in
character and position. In many large districts in our State
the soil has been formed in place by the disintegration of the
rocks. In other parts, where surface action has been greater,
more judgment and care must be exerted in the collection of
the soils; but in no part of the State, probably, is so great
local variety to be seen in the soils as frequently may be
observed in the northeastern States, where the transporting
action of water and of ice, in former epochs, has produced a
high degree of local irregularity in the nature of the surface
deposits.
In the collection of the samples of our Kentucky soils the
causes of local and accidental differences of composition were,
as much as possible, avoided.

CHEMICAL REPORT.

Because of the very small proportion of the essential ingre-
dients of the soil, which are carried off in crops, as compared
with the whole amount of the earth, taken to the depth through
which the roots of plants absorb nourishment, it has been
denied that it is possible by chemical analysis to show their
diminution in the old field soil, as compared with the virgin
soil. Indeed it has been logically demonstrated to be impos-
sible. But, it should be recollected that when, by the acid
digestion, we separate these essential soluble ingredients from
the greater mass of the soil, left as sand and inOsolble silicates,
which amount to from about seventy-five to ninety-two per cent.
of the whole, the probabilities of error in the determination
of these minuter ingredients must not be calculated into the
whole weight of the soil, but into that smaller part which we
have thus extracted from it.
Logic apart. the fzcl still remains, that in one hundred and
forty-nine duplicate analyses, made by the writer for the Ken-
tucky, Arkansas, and Indiana Surveys, in which the chemical
composition of the virgin soil was compared, under similar
conditions of treatment, with soil of a neighboring old field in
the same locality, one hundred and twenty-two out of the one
hundred and forty-nine showed a marked diminution of most
of the essential ingredients of the soil in that of the old field
as compared with the virgin soil. This certainly is not an
accidental result.
In the soil analyses at present reported the results are not
so striking in this relation. Partly because the samples had
not, in several cases, been collected with special reference to
this investigation, and partly because of greater local variations
of the soil in the regions in which they were obtained.
In calculating the probable amount of exhaustion of the
essential soil ingredients, it should be recollected that as
much, and sometimes more, may be alienated from the soil
by the solvent action of the atmospheric agents, while the
surface is much exposed in the cultivation of hoed crops,
than is absorbed and removed by the products. Hence the
exhaustion of the soil is much more rapid under these cir-
8

CHEMICAL REPORT.

cumstances than is generally allowed. In other words, the
exhaustion of the soil when under cultivation in hoed or
plowed crops, during which time a large portion of its surface
is kept bare of vegetation and subjected to the leaching
action of rains, is much greater than can be accounted for by
the amount of the essential ingredients which are taken from
it in its products.
In several instances, in the analyses of the soils described
above, the -sand and insoluble silicates," left after digestion,
for ten days in the acid, were analyzed by the admirable pro-
cess of Professor J. Lawrence Smith, for the determination of
the amount of fixed alkalies held in the form of insoluble
silicates. As will be seen, in the detailed report and in the
tables, the quantity of potash and soda thus held in the soil
in the samples in question are, in most cases, considerable,
ranging from 0.485 to 2.73I per cent. of potash to the whole
soil, and o.I65 to I.306 per cent. of soda.
It is evident that, although at pr-eseni ilsoluble, and hence
unavailable for plant nourishment, these alkalies are doubtless
gradually released and brought into a soluble form by weath-
ering and under the influence of the products of vegetable
decay, so that they tend to prolong the fertility of the soil.
The seventeen limestone an-d limc analyses, of specimens
from nine counties only, represent but a small lpart of our vari-
ous lime rocks. But even these exhibit their great industrial
value, including, as they do, limestones useful for the fluxing
of our iron ores, as well as for purposes of construction in the
form of bUildingr stone or cement, While SOmle of them wouuld
be valualble as fertilizers on the land. The so-called litho-
graphic stone of Barren county and of other correspondling
localities may, for some purposes. with well-selected sam1)les,
replace the more costly foreign stone.
The eighty-two ii-om oCres which have been analyzed are from
eleven counties, principally of the northeastern portion of the

No-rE.-I have found it impossible to Ule this stone for cravon or transfer work.
N. S. S1IALER.
VOL. 1.-CHEM. 2.

CHEMICAL REPORT.

State. Sixty-four of these are limonite ores; twenty-seven are
clay ironstones or carbonate ores; and only one, to be found
probably only in limited quantity in Lawrence county (see No.
I594), is of the red hematite variety.
The proportion of metallic iron, in the limonite ores exam-
ined, varies from 19.344 per cent. to 57.I48 per cent. In the
carbonate ores analysed the per centage of metallic iron ranges
from 10.960 per cent. in what may be termed only a ferruginous
limestone, up to 40.465 per cent.
Of the one hundred and ten specimens of coal, &c., which
were examined by proximate analysis, eighty-nine were from
eleven counties in Kentucky; of which five counties, viz:
Boyd, Carter, Greenup, Lawrence, and Menifee, are in our
northeastern coal field; and six, viz: Butler, Edmonson, Gray-
son, Hopkins, Muhlenburg, and Ohio counties, are in the
southwestern coal field. All these coals are of the splint, dry
coal, or semi-cannel coal variety; cleaving generally into thin
layers, which have more or less fibrous coal between them.
Although some of them make a good coke, they do not gen-
erally soften or swell much when heated or burnt, and hence,
when they do not contain an unusual quantity of sulphur, they
can be used, without preliminary coking, for the smelting of
iron. Some of these coals, however, are quite sulphurous, and
some contain a large proportion of ash,t but the better sam-
ples compare favorably with the best coals of the neighbor-
ing States.
For the purpose of this comparison seven of the best coals
of the State of Ohio, two of the best of those of Illinois, and
four of the celebrated "block coals" of Indiana, used there
for iron smelting, &c., were submitted to similar processes of
analysis with our Kentucky coals. We give the general com-
parative results in the following tables:

f In some cases, as the samples for analysis were taken from new and imperfect openings, it
is more than probable the coals will be found to be better than is represented in the analyses
given.
10

CHEMICAL REPORT.

AVERAGE COMPOSITION OF THE COALS FRO'M THE NORTHEASTERN KEN-
TUCKY COAL FIELD.

Number of Specific Volatile Fixed car- Per cent. of Per cent, of
COUNTIES. samples gravity. combustible bon in theash. sulphur.
analyzed. matters. coke.

FBoyd. . . . . .. 13 1.337 33-43 54-35 8.46 t2.292
Carter.. . . . . . i6 I 331 33-39 53-45 8.17 : 1.886
Greenup. . . . . . 14 1 - 375 34.50 52.20 9 37 3.165
Lawrence . . . . . 6 [.326 36.27 53.85 6.86 1.285
Menifee. . . . .. 2 1.319 33-55 53 -42 10.36 2.544

General average. 51 1.3376 34.23 53-45 8.62 2.234

AVERAGE COMPOSITION IN THE SOUTHWESTERN COAL FIELD.

Number Specific Volatile Fixed Per cent. of Per cent. of
COUNTIES. analyzed. gravity. combustiblecarbon. ash. sulphur.
matters.

Butler.. . . . .. [. 378 30.66 54.94 [1.00 2.544
Edmonson .. . . . 8 1.360 34.01 52.34 10.56 3.312
Grayson... . . .. 8 1.385 31.17 49.78 14.38 2.o83
Hopkins. . . .. . 2 1-385 32.95 52.55 11.20 5.019
Muhlenburg . . .. 11 1.312 36.42 53.26 6.74 2-949
Ohio.. . . . . .. 3 1X.362 34.90 53.77 8.r6 3.103

General average.. 33 1.3636 33.70 52-77 10.34 3.166

B leaving out the exceptional ash of No. 1291, the average is - 7.94.
tithout No. z-g: this average would be - 2.036.
+ This is the average of fifteen of the coals only.
By leaving out the exceptional ash of No. 1454, the average would be -2.21.

AVERAGE (COMPOSITION OF THE SELECTED COALS FROM NEIGHBORING
STATES.

Number Specific Volatile Fixed car- Per cent. of Per cent. of
STATES. analyzed. gravity. combustible bon in the ash. sulphur.
matters. cokc.

Ohio..... ... . 7 x.327 34 51 55 17 6.43 1.494
Illinois.. . .... 2 1.310 31.95 59.o6 5.96 1.924
Indiana. . . .. . 3 1.313 35. 93 54. 24 7. 23 1.946

General average. 12 1.317 34. 13 56. 12 6. 54 1.768

This comparison is more or less imperfect, because the sam-
ples, which were too few in number to make it complete, were
not averaged with special reference to it. Yet it measurably
corroborates opinions held by geologists and others in regard

I I

CHEMICAL REPORT.

to our two coal fields. For instance, it will be seen in the
general averages that the coals of the southwestern field have
more ash and sulphur, and a higher specific gravity, than those
of the northeastern, and that the relative proportions of the
combustible matters, volatile or fixed, are less in the former
The differences, however, are not very remarkable.
In each of these particulars the coals from our neighboring
States of Ohio, Illinois, and Indiana, show less difference than
might have been expected, in view of the fact that they had
been collected from some of the most celebrated coal mines,
as representing the best coals of those States. The following
tables illustrate this:

TABLE OF THE EXTREMIES OF COMPOSITION OF THE COALS.

Volatilecombus- Fixed carbon. Ashes. Sulphur.
CoUNTIEs. tible matters.
From From From From

Bovd ........ . . 29.70to36.70 46.86to57.90 5- 1o 104.74 1.285 to 5.361
Carter . . . . . . . . . 27.22 to 36.26 44.64 to 58.88 3. 20 to I . to 724 to 3.483
Ureenup . . . . . . . . 31.66 to 37.7o 47.00 to 56.70 5 .40 to 13.00 .746 to 5 934
Lawrence.33 .90tO39.0o 47.84 105 7.80 1 80 1 toI 13.70.7 to3.785
Menifee . . . . . . . . 33 o6 to 34.04 50.24 to 56.60 7 40 t( 13.o6 .997 to 4.092
Greatest extremes . . . 27.22 to 39.00 44.64 to 58.88 1 .So to 14.74 .724 to 5.361

Butler........ . 30.66 1. 00I 2 544
Edmonson . . . . . . . 32.00 to 390oo 45.46 to 54.26 6.94 t0 14 34 I. o05 to 8.685
G;ravson . . . . . . . . 25.86 to 35 .80 40.14 to 55. 52 7. ;o to 29-6o 7770to 3.565
Hopkins. 30 00 to 35.90 51.10tO54.0o6.93(0t 15.502.759 to 7.280
'Muhlenburg . . . .... 30.60to43.08 49.80to 58.80 3 .72 tot I .80 .640 to 4.o32
Ohio . . . . . . . . . . 33 5 to 36.20 52.20 to 55. 0 7-10to 9.00 2 -.87 to 3.332
Greatest extremes . . . 25.86 to 43 .08 40.14 to 58.80 3.72 to 29.60 .640 to 8.685

State of Ohio . . . . . . 29.68 to 36.68 54.16 to 57.06 4. 20tO 8.72 .756 to 2.247
State of Illinois .... . 31.86to32 04 5564to59-54 5-i6to 6.76 1.376to2-472
State of Indiana 35..10 to 36.38 53- .50 to 53.58 5.28to 9.00 i.664to2.373
Greatest extremes . . . 29.68 to 36.38 53.50 to 59.54 4.20 to 9.000 .756 to 2.472

CHEMICAL REPORT.

TABLE OF THE COMNIPOSITION OF ELEVEN SELECTED KENTUCKY COALS
FROM SEVERAL COUNTIES.

Number. Specific Volatile Fixed car- Per cent. of Per cent. of
COUNTIES. gravity. combustiblebon in ash, sulphur.
matters. coke.

Boyd ..... . 1286 1.308 33.30 57.60 5.80 2.480
Boyd . .. . . .. 1289 1.320 34.50 55.40 5.10 1.285
Carter. . . . . 1346 1.288 34.36 54.60 4.40 .724
Carter... . .... 1347 1.290 27.22 55.88 7. 50 973
Carter... . . .. 1353 1.274 34 50 58 50 3.20 2.164
Edmonson . . . . 1418 1.336 35.14 54. 26 6.94 2.706
Greenup.. ... 1492 1.292 33.90 56.70 6.20 .746
Greenup.. . . ... 3 493 1.289 34 96 55.54 5.40 1 590
Hopkins... ... 19 1 322 35.90 54.00 6.90 2.759
Lawrence. . 1589 1.281 35 - 30 57.80 I So .736
Lawrence .. . . . 1593 1.284 39.00 54.76 3.74 i.o66

General average.. . . . 1.298 34.36 56.18 5.18 1.566

To show the great importance of collecting true and faithful
average samples of the coal beds, for the purpose of analysis,
two picked cabin'et spect'imens were taken and analyzed, to-wit:
No. I 280 (b). Coal No. 7, from Turke'-pcn Hollow, Boj 'd county.
No. 1348 (b). CGao Al o. 7, Pritchard's coal, 1It. Savage Fur-
nace, Carter county.
The comparative results of the analyses are as follows-
thoroughly air-dried:

Picked sample. Ave'ge sample. P'icked sample Ave ge sample.

No. 1280 (b). No. 1280 (a). No. 1348 (b). No. 1348 (a).

Specific gravity.... . . .. Not determ'd. 1.358 Not determnd. 1.435

Hygroscopic moisture.... . 4.70 3.40 4.50 5.40
Volatile combustible matters.. 34.30 32.30 37 10 32.70
Coke.. . . . .. . . .. . 6.0oo 64.301 58.40 61.go

Total.......... . 100.00 1o0.00 100.00 100.00

Total volatile matters 39.00 35.70 41.60 38.10
Carbon in the coke.. .... 59.04 55.40 56.40 52.52
Ash .. . . . .. . . .. . 1.96 8.90 2.00 9.38

Total... . . .. . . .. 100.00 100.0o0 100.00 100.00

Par centage of sulphur.... 0.983 1.230 0.571 2.356

CHEMICAL REPORT.

As the value of a coal bed bears a very near relation to that
of its average product, it is easily to be understood that the
analysis of a selected sample may be of very little utility. On
the other hand, the selection of a true average sample of the
bed may often be a task of considerable difficulty.
The determination of the proportion of sulphur in coals has
been much neglected in this country; and where it has been
done the method generally used has been to oxidate the pow-
dered coal in strong nitric or nitro-hydrochloric acid. This.
mode of analysis is not so perfect as fusion with a mixture of
nitre, carbonate of soda, and salt, &c., which always, when
properly managed, brings all the sulphur into the form of sol-
uble sulphate, in whatever state it may have existed in the
coal. This exhaustive mode was employed in all our estima-
tions of this substance, and hence the quantities obtained may
seem greater than are shown to exist in similar coals which.
have been treated with the acids.
As has now been extensively demonstrated, the sulphur in
coals is rarely all combined with iron as sulphide or bi-sul-
phide. Some frequently exists in a free or uncombined con-
dition, as is shown in an analysis describe l in the following
pages. Some of it is frequently in the form of lime sulphate.
When it is recollected that vegetable manotrs, decomposing
in a solution of sulphates of lime, magnesia, iron, &c., reduce
these salts to sulphides, with the productiol of hydrogen sul-
phide in the case of the earthy salts, and w, en we reflect that
this gaseous compound, HS, is decomposed, with the depo-
sition of free sulphur, on contact with the air, we can easily
understand how most of our coals must contain not only
pyrites but free sulphur.
In the thirty-four marls, many s/hales, sands, and silicious con-
cretions, which have been analyzed, we find a general preva-
lence of lime, fixed alkalies, phosphoric acid, sulphuric acid,
&c. Some of the marls and shales contain these in such con-
siderable proportions as to make them locally useful for the
amelioration of poor sandy land. Some of these find an ap-
plication as mineral paint, for which they are adapted by their
14

CHEMICAL REPORT.

agreeable tint and other properties. Some of the more sili-
cious could be used in the manufacture of glass, as well as for
other purposes; some of post-tertiary silicious clays, or soft
sandstones, might be made into bricks for scouring purposes,
&c., while others, which contain but little lime, magnesia, oxide
of iron or alkalies, would prove quite refractory in the fire.
But the fire-clays and plastic clays of the coal fields, of which
the analyses of sixteen are appended, are especially deserving
attention; and from their abundance, superior quality, and
vicinity to fuel, should form the basis of extensive industries.
Amongst them may be found some of the best of fire-clays, as
well as some well-fitted to the manufacture of pottery ware of
various kinds, including the better sorts of delf, stone china,
or queensware. Skill, capital, and enterprise are all that are
needed, oil these somewhat neglected deposits, to make them
of very great value to individuals as well as to the public.
Only the want of these essentials causes us to pay a heavy
tax to foreign nations for our pottery ware, when the materials
for the manufacture lie measurably neglected at home. It is
simply the history repeated of the importation of bricks from
Holland to build houses in Albany, and the packing of English
bricks, on the backs of horses, over the Alleghenies, to con-
struct the barracks at old Fort Duquesne on the Ohio.
The nineteen samples of pik iron which have been analyzed
are mostly of the kind known as foundry iron. On reference
to the general table of their composition, it will be seen that
they present considerable variety in this respect; as for exam-
ple:
The per centage of iron ranges between.......... .. . . 8.455 to 95.840
carbon . .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 2.040to4.400
phosphorus . ........................... 0.123 to 1.029
sulphur . ..... ...... .. .. a trace to 0. 150
The specific gravity . .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 6.406 to7.782
Of the numerous mineral waters of our State the analyses
of twenty-one are given in the present report, mostly from one
locality.
15

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CHEMICAL REPORT.