Part I. Report of progress in 1869, by J. S. Newberry, chief geologist. Part II. Report of progress in the second district, by E. B. Andrews, assist. geologist. Part III. Report on geology of Montgomery County, by Edward Orton, assist. geologist.

32
ECONOMIC GEOLOGY.
COAL.
Coal is entitled to be considered as the mainspring of our civilization.
By the power developed in its combustion, all the wheels of industry are
kept in motion, commerce is carried with rapidity and certainty over all
portions of the earth's surface, the usual metals are brought from the
deep caves in which they have hidden themselves, and are purified and
wrought to serve the purposes of man. By coal, night is in one sense
converted into day, winter into summer, and the life of man, measured
by its fruits, greatly prolonged. Wealth, with all the comforts, the
luxuries and the triumphs it brings, is its gift. Though black, sooty and
often repulsive in its aspects, it is the embodiment of a power more
potent than that attributed to the genii in oriental tales. Its possession
is therefore the highest material boon that can be craved by a community
or nation. Coal is also not without its poetry. It has been formed under the stimulus of the sunshine of long past ages, and the light and
power it holds are nothing else than such sunshine stored in,this black
casket, to Wait the coming and serve the purposes of man. In the process of formation it composed the tissues of those strange trees that
lifted their scaled trunks and waved their feathery foliage over the
marshy shores of the carboniferous continent; where not only no man
was, but gigantic salamanders and mail-clad fishes were the monarchs
of the animated world.
On this picture, however, we have no time to dwell; our present purpose is to consider coal in its utilitarian aspect, and to show what it is
and for what it can be used.
That the assertions I have made in regard to the economic value of
coal are not:exaggerations, will be apparent by a glance at the present
material condition of the civilized world.
Of all the nations of Europe, England is the most powerful, because
she is the richest. Though occupying a group of islands insignificant in
area, she has spread her power over the entire globe, and it is her boast
that the sun never sets on her possessions. It is well known to the
political economist that the source of England's wealth has been her
manufacturing industry; and the main-spring of her industry has been
her stores of coal. In this respect she enjoys a great pre-eminence over
all the nations of Europe. The United Kingdoms have a coal area that
has been reckoned at 10,000 square miles, while in round numbers
Belgium has 500, France 2,000, Spain 4,000, and the other nations of
Europe still less. The annual coal production of Great Britain is now