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<v Speaker 1>Section nineteen of Birds and All Nature, Volume seven, number two,

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<v Speaker 1>February nineteen hundred. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox

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<v Speaker 1>recordings are in the public domain. For more information or

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<v Speaker 1>to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org. Common Minerals and

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<v Speaker 1>Valuable Ores three minerals containing carbon Theodore F. Brooken's b

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<v Speaker 1>S Principal O Sable Fork's Union, Free School and Academy,

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<v Speaker 1>New York. Among minerals of economic importance, carbon minerals hold

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<v Speaker 1>the unique position of being at the same time of

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<v Speaker 1>the most common and the most rare occurrence. As far

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<v Speaker 1>as external appearance indicates, a piece of common coal and

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<v Speaker 1>the most brilliant diamond are widely separated with regard to

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<v Speaker 1>chemical composition, they are closely related. Intermediate between the coal

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<v Speaker 1>of the stoke furnace and the brilliant of the jewelry

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<v Speaker 1>shop is still another well known form of carbon, the

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<v Speaker 1>graphite of the lead pencil. These three substances comprise the

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<v Speaker 1>far greater part of carbon containing minerals. In so far

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<v Speaker 1>as our mind's picture of a mineral is that of

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<v Speaker 1>an aggregation of crystals of fairly perfect form, our consideration

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<v Speaker 1>of coal as a mineral is erroneous. We must yield

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<v Speaker 1>to a broader interpretation of the essential characteristics of a

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<v Speaker 1>mineral and modify our idea so as to include any

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<v Speaker 1>homogeneous substance solid with the exception of mercury, of fairly

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<v Speaker 1>definite chemical composition quote occurring in nature, but not of

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<v Speaker 1>apparent organic origin unquote. Organic substances are those that are

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<v Speaker 1>alive or have lived. Vegetation is undoubtedly the origin of

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<v Speaker 1>all coal, but often much more than a cursory examination

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<v Speaker 1>is necessary to prove such origin. In the less altered coals,

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<v Speaker 1>the vegetable origin is readily proved by the actual presence

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<v Speaker 1>of seeds, plant fibers, and other equally apparent organic remains.

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<v Speaker 1>A microscopic stud is necessary for finding the presence of

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<v Speaker 1>woody fiber in the more metamorphosed form. The word metamorphose

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<v Speaker 1>comes from the Greek meta means after or over morphi

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<v Speaker 1>is form. A metamorphosis is a change of form or

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<v Speaker 1>a forming over. The history of the discovery of the

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<v Speaker 1>value of coal as a means of producing heat and

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<v Speaker 1>of the development of the coal mining industry covers a

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<v Speaker 1>comparatively recent period. Coal occurs in such quantities near the

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<v Speaker 1>surface of the Earth's crust, and its outcrops are so

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<v Speaker 1>numerous that it cannot have failed to attract the attention

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<v Speaker 1>of the most ancient of peoples. Indeed, that coal could

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<v Speaker 1>be used as a fuel is mentioned by a writer, Theophrastus,

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<v Speaker 1>who lived three hundred years BC. The ancient Celts of

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<v Speaker 1>Britain are repeated to have evidence knowledge of the industrial

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<v Speaker 1>value of coal. It was not until near the middle

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<v Speaker 1>of the thirteenth century, however, that coal became so important

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<v Speaker 1>an economic product as to result in statutes granting to

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<v Speaker 1>certain places the privilege of mining it. After a long

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<v Speaker 1>period of trial in England, the superiority of coal over

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<v Speaker 1>other fuels was recognized, and stone coal, as the harder

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<v Speaker 1>form was commonly known, came into general use. In America,

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<v Speaker 1>bituminous or soft coal was mined to a slight extent

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<v Speaker 1>in the latter half of the eighteenth century. The form

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<v Speaker 1>now commonly used in house heating furnaces. Anthracite for a

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<v Speaker 1>long time baffled the colonists in their efforts to make

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<v Speaker 1>it burn. The knowledge that an anthracite fire is most

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<v Speaker 1>effective if not continually poked is said to have been

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<v Speaker 1>acquired generally by accident. Europe and the United States today

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<v Speaker 1>produce practically all the coal of the world. In Europe,

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<v Speaker 1>Great Britain, Germany, France, Austria, Hungary and Belgium are the

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<v Speaker 1>main sources of supply. Several important coal areas exist in

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<v Speaker 1>our own country, notably that of the New England Basin

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<v Speaker 1>with an area of five hundred square miles, the Appalachian

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<v Speaker 1>District with an area of sixty five thousand square miles,

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<v Speaker 1>the Northern Area in Michigan covering seven thousand square miles,

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<v Speaker 1>the Central Area, comprising parts of Illinois, Indiana, and Kentucky

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<v Speaker 1>and including forty eight thousand square miles, the scattered Western

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<v Speaker 1>Area with a total of ninety eight thousand square miles,

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<v Speaker 1>the indefinite Rocky Mountain Area, and the Pacific Coast region

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<v Speaker 1>including parts of California, Oregon, and Washington. Coal mining is

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<v Speaker 1>yet an undeveloped industry in our territorial possessions. Alaska has

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<v Speaker 1>an abundant supply of coal, and lesser quantities are found

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<v Speaker 1>in Cuba and Puerto Rico. Mention has already been made

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<v Speaker 1>of the two common kinds of coal, bituminous and anthracite.

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<v Speaker 1>These two kinds mark different stages in the transformation from

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<v Speaker 1>plant organism to mineral product. As the biologist traces the

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<v Speaker 1>successive steps in the evolution of an individual of a

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<v Speaker 1>species from germ to adult, so the geologist unfolds before

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<v Speaker 1>us the wonderful history of a piece of coal, from

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<v Speaker 1>its firm dis appearance on the Earth to the time

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<v Speaker 1>when it is thrown into our fire grate as fuel.

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<v Speaker 1>Coal is the metamorphosed product of vegetable growths, changed by

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<v Speaker 1>atmospheric agencies and the internal forces of the Earth, acting

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<v Speaker 1>through a total period of perhaps millions of years. In

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<v Speaker 1>the remote past, ages before man had appeared on the Earth,

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<v Speaker 1>the atmosphere of our globe was highly charged with carbon gases.

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<v Speaker 1>Vegetation flourished in luxuriance. Great swamps were common. The ocean

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<v Speaker 1>alternately covered and receded from verdure clothed land areas. Ponds

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<v Speaker 1>were transformed to morasses, and swamps in the swamps thus formed.

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<v Speaker 1>The accumulated sediment of centuries upon centuries covered alternate layers

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<v Speaker 1>of decayed plant organisms, until finally beds of peat were formed.

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<v Speaker 1>Great masses above pressed on those underneath. The internal heat

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<v Speaker 1>of the earth reached up and transformed the densely packed

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<v Speaker 1>masses of peat, until the beds became hard and brown,

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<v Speaker 1>the product of the partial metamorphism being what we know

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<v Speaker 1>as lignite or brown coal. With the continued action of

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<v Speaker 1>the forces of metamorphism, the lignite turned still darker, and

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<v Speaker 1>as more gases were driven off, became heavier, until the

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<v Speaker 1>bituminous stage was reached, which in turn was succeeded by

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<v Speaker 1>the anthracite stage. Graphite or black lead, is a mineral

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<v Speaker 1>containing not more than five per cent of impurities, and

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<v Speaker 1>is generally supposed to have originated as did mineral coal,

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<v Speaker 1>and to represent a still more advanced stage of development.

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<v Speaker 1>It occurs in various localities, both in the vicinity of

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<v Speaker 1>coal measures and far removed from them. The chief part

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<v Speaker 1>of the world's supply comes from Ceylon, though Germany and

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<v Speaker 1>the United States produce quantities of graphite of excellent quality.

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<v Speaker 1>In the Laurentian rocks of Canada, and of course, with

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<v Speaker 1>as ancient origin, extensive deposits are found. This presence of

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<v Speaker 1>graphite and strata in which as yet no certain traces

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<v Speaker 1>of organic life have been found, has led some to

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<v Speaker 1>believe that this form of carbon mineral may have another

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<v Speaker 1>than organic origin. Various uses are served by graphite. The

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<v Speaker 1>chemist finds it of great value in making his crucibles.

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<v Speaker 1>The engineer uses it finally powdered as a lubricant. The

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<v Speaker 1>housekeeper polishes stoves with it. The electrician uses it in

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<v Speaker 1>his arc lights. All civilized nations use it in the

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<v Speaker 1>lead of lead pencils. The stem grapho to write on

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<v Speaker 1>which so many of our words as geography, telegraph, graphophone,

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<v Speaker 1>et cetera, are formed, suggests also the origin of the

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<v Speaker 1>name graphite. The finest quality lead pencils are those made

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<v Speaker 1>from graphite occurring in a state sufficiently pure to allow

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<v Speaker 1>the cutting and grinding of pieces to the size needed

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<v Speaker 1>in the case of the medium. In poorer grade pencils,

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<v Speaker 1>the graphite has first been finely powdered and then pressed

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<v Speaker 1>into the requisite shape and size. The purest form of

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<v Speaker 1>carbon found in nature is the diamond. The rare their

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<v Speaker 1>occurrence of diamonds indicates that the essential conditions in nature

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<v Speaker 1>for causing the transformation of some less pure form of

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<v Speaker 1>carbon into diamond are seldom present. While diamonds have actually

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<v Speaker 1>been produced in the laboratory by far seeing and indefagable chemists,

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<v Speaker 1>yet the cost of such products is so great as

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<v Speaker 1>to preclude the possibility of the most precious of gems

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<v Speaker 1>becoming at all common. The diamond is the hardest of

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<v Speaker 1>all known substances, and will scratch any other mineral across

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<v Speaker 1>which it may be drawn. Three localities have successively furnished

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<v Speaker 1>the main part of the world's stock of diamonds. A

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<v Speaker 1>century and a half ago, practically all the diamonds came

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<v Speaker 1>from India, where at one time sixty thousand persons were

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<v Speaker 1>employed in diamond digging. Toward the middle of the eighteenth century,

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<v Speaker 1>when the diamond differous districts of India were becoming exhausted,

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<v Speaker 1>the discovery of the precious gem in Brazilian deposits was made.

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<v Speaker 1>At present, the supply of diamonds from Brazil has much diminished,

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<v Speaker 1>and the diamond fields of South Africa Africa, whereas located

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<v Speaker 1>the famous Kimberly Mine, produced a larger part of the

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<v Speaker 1>world's output of diamonds. Among famous diamonds of the world

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<v Speaker 1>should be mentioned the co enore of the British crown,

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<v Speaker 1>which Hindu legend relates was worn five thousand years ago

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<v Speaker 1>by one of their national heroes. The largest known diamond

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<v Speaker 1>weighing three hundred sixty seven carrots was found in Borneo

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<v Speaker 1>and is now owned by the Rajah of Matan end

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<v Speaker 1>of section nineteen