Papers - Classification - Classification of Coal from the Viewpoint of the Geologist (With Discussion)

You have just heard several papers on the classification of coal as this subject appears to the chemist; I shall approach it from the point of view of the geologist who, perforce, has to deal with coal as it occurs in the ground and with the miner of coal who knows certain phases of the physical characteristics of coal better than the scientist can possibly know them. The chemist is familiar with coal as it reaches him in the laboratory, but he seldom has an opportunity to see it in its native condition and to study its physical characteristics and its behavior under varying conditions of weather, transportation and use. He naturally regards the chemical composition of coal as the all-important feature upon which to base a system of classification and he is sometimes inclined to ignore as unscientific any scheme of classification that is based on characteristics other than chemical. The geologist, on the other hand, although he is glad to use the data furnished by the chemist, must depend largely upon the differences that he can see and feel. Classification Understandable to the Layman In the very comprehensive program of examination of the coal fields of the West which the U. S. Geological Survey undertook in 1906, it fell to my lot, as the responsible head of the work, to classify the coals in advance of much knowledge of their chemical composition and in regions where mining had not begun. In this work I was forced to devise some sort of classification that would work practically and that would be understandable to the layman in the field. Much of the classification was based on the work of those who had gone before me, but in the low rank coals of the West the field was unoccupied and I was forced to devise a scheme embracing both chemical and physical characteristics. This scheme has stood the test of actual practical application for several years but it needs revision and the sharpening of the limits between the different ranks. I feel that my experience warrants my saying that physical characteristics must be considered and I have faith to believe that some scheme embodying both can be devised.