If it were not for two evils that constantly menace and hamper him, the coal miner of to-day would be the most favored of workmen. These twin evils are strikes and lockouts. Abolish them and there would be no more comfortable, happy, and generally prosperous class of people in America than the workers in the coal mines. GLOSSARY OF MINING TERMS. _After damp._ The mixture of gases resulting from the burning of fire damp. _Air shaft._ A vertical opening into a mine for the passage of air. _Airway._ Any passage in the mine along which an air current passes; but the term is commonly applied to that passage which is driven, for ventilating purposes, parallel to and simultaneously with the gangway. _Anticlinal._ A fold of strata in which the inclination of the sides of the fold is from the axis downward. _Barrier pillars._ Large pillars of coal left at a boundary line, or on the outskirts of a squeeze. _Basin._ The hollow formed by a fold of the seam; any large area of included coal. _Battery_. In steep-pitching seams, a wooden structure built across the shute to hold the mined coal back. _Bearing in._ Cutting a horizontal groove at the bottom or side of the face of a breast. _Bed._ Any separate stratum of rock or coal. _Bench._ A horizontal section of the coal seam, included between partings of slate or shale. _Black damp._ Carbonic acid gas; known also as choke damp. _Blossom._ Decomposed coal, indicating the presence of an outcrop. _Blower._ A forcible and copious discharge of gas from a cavity in the coal seam. _Bony coal._ Coal containing in its composition slaty or argillaceous material. _Bore-hole._ A hole of small diameter drilled or bored, either vertically or horizontally, through the measures or in the coal; usually, a hole drilled vertically for prospecting purposes. _Brattice._ A partition made of boards or of brattice cloth, and put up to force the air current to the face of the workings. _Breaker._ A building, with its appliances, used in the preparation of anthracite coal for the market. _Break-through._ A cross-heading or entrance, used in the bituminous mines. _Breast._ The principal excavation in the mine from which coal is taken; known also as chamber. _Broken coal._ One of the regular sizes of prepared anthracite. _Buckwheat coal._ One of the regular sizes of prepared anthracite. _Buggy._ A small car or wagon used for transporting coal from the working face to the gangway. _Buntons._ The timbers placed crosswise of a shaft down its entire depth, dividing it into vertical compartments. _Butt._ In bituminous coal seams, the vertical planes of cleavage at right angles to the face cleavage. _Butty._ A comrade; a fellow-worker in the same chamber. _Cage._ See Carriage. _Carriage._ The apparatus on which coal is hoisted in a shaft. _Cartridge pin._ A round stick of wood on which the paper tube for the cartridge is formed.