Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 10.djvu/471

Rh MINERALS.] I _ , .5. l-___ I .1. 1867] ,, 10,720,700 1372 20,783,000 1868 ,,.E g 11,248,000 1873 20,782,000 1869 ;§ 12,021,000 1874 25,283,000 1870 1 " ;~. *5 12,412,000 1875 20,844,000 1871 J -=--1 15,708,000 1876 13,900,000 The metals extracted from ores in 1876 were thus classi- fied :— Jlclal Pro¢7.uclz'on. in 1876. )1,-mis, Quantities. i Value. Cwts. i .e Iron from home crcs  30,410,000 4.920,550 ' " ,, foreign ores 1,884,000 306,890, ,, r 5) rr Zinc  3 ,, lro-1110 Ore.-5  1,583.-E00 1,655,980 ( ,, folvlgll ores 8..,..40 84.630 I __ 1 S ,, home ores . 1,372,800 1,417,040 “‘“ ( ,, foreign ores 189,100 148,220 (‘.Um)m_" 1 ,, l_1om_e ores . 165,100 628,170 I ,, foreign ores 3,300 13,520 Ounces. Silver” 5 ,, hom_e ores .. 4,347,200 967,820 ( ,, foreign ores 581,150 130,650 C, home ores 10,445 26,040 ‘Old. .. ” f - _ . - - 9 ,, orcign ores C3,3.38 13,..00 W S. “'21  ” lr‘.Ii-‘.Tli’..i";f’;7’.-;" §’§"§3 §’3’6§3 . v, u ) Cobalt ...... ..’.’. . . . . .3 ...... .. 7,150 58,400 (_‘;-ilmium .. ........... .. 36 1,450 'l'in . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . 3,671 9 540 1.‘-isinuth ....................... .. 430 12:520 -rscnic products . . . . . . . . . . . .. 17,150 16,540 Sulphur . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 6,800 3,300 Oil of vitriol, &c ............. .. 2,201,400 438,950 7, 1 Cxvts. 37,882,000 I _. . Fetal .... .. Uzi 4,948,100  10,995,100 Coal.——Coal-mining appears to have been ﬁrst practised in the 14th century, at Zwick-an (Saxony), and on the ltuhr. The production, which certainly did not exceed 500,000 tons in 1800, has vastly increased during the last thirty years, as may be seen from the following table (which does not include lignite) :—- C'0a.l I’rotluclz'o;;, 1848- 1877. GERBIANY Quantities. aiuc Metric Tons £ 1848] 4,381,000 1,284,000 1853 | Lorraine 8,329,000 2,566,000 1857 5' not 11,279,000 4,137,000 1862 | included. 15,576,000 4,155,000 1867 J 23,808,000 6,371,000 1871 29,398,000 10,917,000 1872 33,306,000 14,833,000 1873 36,392.000 20,183,000 1874 35,919,000 19,359,000 1875 37,436.000 14,874.000 1876 38,454,000 13,184,000 1877 37,576,000 10,854,000 There are six large coal ﬁelds, occupying an area of about 3600 square miles, of which the most important occupies the basin of the Ruhr, its extent being estimated at 2800 square miles. Here there are more than 60 beds, of a total tl1ick11ess of 150 to 200 feet of coal; and the amount in the pits has been estimated at 45,000 millions of tons, so that the basin, at the present rate of 17,500,000 tons raised per annum, would not be exhausted in 2000 years. Smaller ﬁelds are found near Osnabriick, Ibbenbiiren, and Minden, and a larger one near Aix-la-Chapelle. The Saar coal-ﬁeld, within the area enclosed by the rivers Saar, Nahe, and Blies (460 square miles), is one of great importance. The thick- ness of 80 beds amounts to 250 feet, and Von Dccheu esti- mates the total mass of coal at 45,400 million tons. The 453 greater part of the basin belongs to Prussia, the rest to Lorraine. A still larger field exists in the Upper Silesian basin, on the border-land between Austria and Poland, con- taining about 50,000 million tons. Beuthen is the chief centre. The Silesian coal-ﬁelds have a second centre in Walde11bu1'g, east of the licsengebirge. The Saxon coal- ﬁelds stretch eastwards for some miles from Zwickau. Deposits of less consequence are found in ‘Upper Bavaria, Upper Franconia, Baden, in the Harz, &c. _'umbcr (uul Proclucliolt of (/olllcrirs in 1876. Coal-!-‘ields. l 1'un.ber of Coal produced in (Not including Lignite). Collicucs 1876. 1 1 I I Tons. Ru I1‘ (gov. t1St1‘1L‘tS, Arns- _ .. berg and Dusseldorf) i 207 ]"43O’000 Upper Silesia .................. .. 107 8,468,000 Saar ............................ .. 33 5,080,000 Zwickan  ..  71 3.038,000 Lower Silesia ................. .. 44 2,150,000 _i.—l.1-Cliapelle    17 . 994,000 Osnabriiclc, Ibbcnbtircn, &c. 22 822,000 Minor ﬁelds ................ .. . 47 472,000 Total ......... ..| 543 38,454,000 The above tables do not include lignite, of which numerous beds are scattered over Germany. Extcnsixc strata follow the course of the Oder, and a second group is spread over Lusatia, but the largest and most important deposit is in the Saale districts from Altenburg to the llarz. Smaller ﬁelds are situated round Cassel, northward of Frankfort, near Cologne and Aix-la—Cl1apelle, in the west of Hanover, and in the Upper Palatinate. The total pro- duction is stated in the official returns at 11,100,000 tons, representing a value of £1,922,000. Of this 8,780,000 to11s are supplied by the fields in the Saale districts (pro- vince of Saxony, Anhalt, Brunswick, Saxe-Altenburg, and kingdom of Saxony). In North Germany turf also is of importance as a fuel; the area of the turf moors in Prussia is estimated at 8000 square miles, of which more than 2000 are in the north of Hanover. The coal produced supplies the home demand, although a considerable trade is carried on across the frontier. Through the ports of the North Sea and the Baltic more than 2 million to11s of coals are imported annually from England, and nearly million tons of lignite come from Bohemia. 011 the other hand, the Iuhr and the Saar basins export nearly 3 million tons of coal to the Netherlands, France, and Switzerland, and the Upper Silesian basin 13 millions to Austria and Russia. The following table gives a comparative view of the quan- tity supplied by the more important coal-producing countries in 1876 :— Tons. Tons. Great Britain ..... .. 135,612,000 France .............. .. 16,889,000 United States 50,000,000 Belgium. 14,329,000 Germany... 48,296,000 Austria.-Hungary .. 13,362,000 (-'7'apIu'te is produced only in Lower Bavaria; the total amount in 1876 was 20,104 cwts., value £2090. Asphalt occurs near Hanover, i11 Brunswick, and in Alsace; total production in 1876, 720,000 cwts., value £15,300. Petroleum is found i11 limited quantity near Liineburg, and in Alsace. Iron Ore. —Germany abounds in iron ores, some of which are of superior quality. The production increased rapidly for a time, but in recent years there has been a very great decline. About 35 per cent. is brown iron ore, 25 per cent. spathic iron, 18 per cent. black band, and 10 per cent. red iron ore. The rest consists of clay-ironstone, bog-iro11 ore (in the northern lowlands), and magnetic ores. Unfortunately but few mines are found in proximity to c0al—pits, a11d im- portant ore-deposits of great extent are far from coal, as, for