No kind of coal takes fire so readily, nor burns with so cheerful and brilliant a flame as this: and its not soiling the fingers, like pit coal, renders the use of it peculiarly pleasant; but it does not cake, and soon burns away. When first kindled, it crackles and splinters very much; and, on this account, would be dangerous, were it not easily prevented from so doing by being previously immersed for a little while in water. Cannel coal has much the appearance of jet. It admits of being turned in a lathe, and takes a good polish; and snuff─boxes and trinkets made of it have in many instances been sold as jet (222). Of all the kinds of coal that are used for gas─lights, none are said to be so useful as this. 220. _STONE COAL, KILKENNY COAL, WELSH COAL, or GLANCE COAL, is of a dark iron─black colour, with a metallic lustre and foliated texture; and consists almost entirely of charcoal._ Unlike most other kinds of coal, this occurs both in stratified masses, and in lumps, nested in clay. It is found in several countries of the Continent, in Wales, Scotland, and near Kilkenny in Ireland. When laid on burning coals, it becomes red hot, emits a blue lambent flame in the same manner as charcoal; and is, at length, slowly consumed, leaving behind a portion of red ashes. No smoke nor soot is produced from this coal; but, on the contrary, it whitens the places where the fume is condensed; and the effluvia which it gives out are extremely suffocating. This coal is chiefly used in the drying of malt. 221. _BOVEY COAL, BROWN COAL, or BITUMINOUS WOOD, is of brown colour, and in shape exactly resembles the stems and branches of trees, but is usually compressed. It is soft, somewhat flexible, and so light as nearly to float when thrown into water._ The greatest abundance of this coal occurs at Bovey, near Exeter, from which place it derives its name. The lowest stratum is worked at the depth of seventy─five feet beneath the surface of the earth. It is also found in Scotland, Ireland, and Germany. As fuel, the Bovey coal is used only by the poorest classes of the community, as, notwithstanding its burning with a clear flame, it emits a sweetish but extremely disagreeable sulphureous gas, which is injurious to the health of the inhabitants. It is principally used for the burning of lime, and for the first baking of earthen ware. 222. _JET, or PITCH COAL, is a solid, black, and opaque mineral, harder than coal, and found in detached_ _masses from an inch to seven or eight feet in length, having a fine or regular structure, and a grain resembling that of wood._ _It has sometimes been confounded with cannel coal (219), but it is easily distinguished by its superior hardness: Jet cannot without difficulty be scratched with a knife, whilst cannel coal may be marked by the simple pressure of the nail._