Port Natal on the eastern side of Africa, but we believe no geologist has examined those sites. In the Chinese and Birmese empires only brown coal appears to approach the tropic. Southward of the Asiatic continent we are uncertain of the exact character of the coal deposits, such as occur abundantly in Sumatra, Java, and Borneo, and neighbouring islands. In New South Wales the great coal range on the eastern margin of that continent was formerly sometimes considered to be like the Newcastle coal in England, and sometimes it was thought to be only brown coal; and indeed it is very certain that lignite does exist there; but the recent investigations of Count Strzelecki suggest that the epoch of the principal coal formations of Australia and Van Dieman's Land approaches somewhat to the oolite period. This coal differs essentially from that of any known European formation, but bears a strong resemblance to the Burdwan coal of India. We may mention here, incidentally, that good coal is not essentially limited to the carboniferous period of the European geologists, but may and does exist, of excellent quality, in formations both of older and later origin. The Richmond coal field of America is now shown to be of an age not much, if any anterior to the older oolite series. Mr. Lyell has observed that no estimate of the probable value of the coal of India can be formed by comparing it with coal of the same age in Europe. Sir Henry de la Beche, has also remarked, that it was incorrect to suppose that in all other countries the most valuable coals would be found in rocks agreeing in age with the English coal measures. Those of Australia and Northern India, for instance, resemble each other in quality and in their fossil flora, yet both are dissimilar from those of the English coal-fields, and are evidently, like the Virginia coal alluded to, of an entirely different origin. The evidence as to the facts contained in the foregoing sketch, will be found in detail in succeeding pages. From what has already been stated, it will be seen that it is impracticable, in numerous instances, to announce the true place in the geological scale, of formations which pass under the common denomination of coal. In some of these cases they have received no scientific investigation, and in others the results, if ascertained at all, have not reached us. Of course, we have not yet arrived at the period when we could. pronounce with any approach to certainty, on the actual number of coal basins in the world. Were we to venture an opinion, we should rate the number at from two hundred and fifty to three hundred principal coal-fields; and many of these are subdivided, by the disturbed position of the strata, into subordinate basins. COMPARATIVE VALUE OF GOLD AND SILVER, AND OF COAL AND IRON. A Spanish writer, not long since, instituted a comparison between the productive value of the silver and gold mines of America and that of the coal mines of England. The author exhibits a balance in favour of the latter of nearly two hundred and thirty millions of francs* £9,286,000 sterling, annually. Baron Humboldt, at the commencement of the nineteenth century, estimated the produce of the gold and silver in North and South America at Which sum at the rate of 4s. 3d. a dol lar amount to Mr. Jacob estimated the annual value But from 1810 to 1829, the average An estimate has been recently made with Sir H. T. De la Beche estimates the value of the coal at the pit's mouth in Great Britain, Others estimate it at Another estimate extends the value to§ The produce of the British coal mines is variously calculated at from 31 millions to 34 millions of tons. At the respective places of consumption, in manufactures, in domestic use and that exported, The value is probably from £17 millions to The capital employed in the coal trade is computed at 8 or 10 millions more,|| The value of the iron produced through the agency of this coal in Great Britain at the furnace, Value of the iron when manufactured, in its various branches, which of itself History of Fossil Fuel, p. 474. $43,500,000 McCulloch's Geographical Gazateer, p. 80. Commerce and Resources of Mexico.-Hunt's Mag., vol. x., 1844, p. 121. Mr. Buddle, in 1829. greatly exceeds the value of all the gold and silver of the new world, in the most productive times, Or nearly five times that of the gold and The yearly value of the coal in five prin- $82,280,000 £17,000,000 $145,200,000 £30,000,000 in the world at 339,334,000 francs, $65,489,000 The value of the coal produced in the £13,710,407 same year, upwards of £17,000,000 EMPLOYMENT OF MINERAL COMBUSTIBLES. In Great Britain, coal, according to some authorities, was mentioned as occurring in England as early as the ninth century, A. D., 853. It was certainly known and applied to various economical purposes in the middle of the twelfth century. In 1239, King Henry III. granted the privilege of digging coals to the good men of Newcastle. But it is little more than two hundred and fifty years since coal came to be in general use, as fuel, in London. Upon its first introduction there, one or two ships were sufficient for the whole trade.† At the present day there are several thousand ships constantly engaged in the transportation of that combustible. It appears from a charter of Edward the Second, A. D. 1315, that the coal of Derbyshire was at that time known and in use. The introduction of coal for domestic purposes was retarded by the difficulty of employing it conveniently, and by the natural prejudice against such a description of fuel, as a substitute for wood, in cities. By a proclamation of Edward the First, and again in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, we find that stone coal was prohibited in London during the sitting of Parliament, lest the health of the Knights of the Shire should suffer during their residence in the metropolis. Blythe, an old agricultural author, writing in 1649, has the following passage:- "It was not many years since the famous city of London petitioned the Parliament of England against two anusances or offensive commodities, which were likely to come into great use and * Williams's Mineral Kingdom. esteem and that was, Newcastle coals, in regard of their stench, &c., and hops, in regard that they would spoyle the taste of drinck, and endanger the people." In France, the precise period of its adoption as a substitute for wood, is not ascertained: its introduction was probably very gradual. The commencement of its use in the city of Paris was in 1520, the coal being drawn not from the mines of France, but from the collieries of Newcastle. It would seem, however, that at the outset it met with little favour in Paris, as for some time was the case in London, doubtless owing to the difficulties attending its application. It was submitted to the decision of the faculty of medicine, in the former city, how far this new description of fuel was prejudicial to the public health. It was not probably before the middle of the sixteenth century that coal mining in France had commenced to be of any importance.* In Scotland, mineral coal was known, probably, much earlier than in France. The privilege of digging coal is mentioned in a grant to a religious house, A. D. 1291.† In Belgium, the earliest reference to mineral coal was in 1198 or 1200, in the country of Liege, where tradition gives the credit of the application, as a fuel, to a blacksmith. From this time there seems to be evidence of its being in ordinary use, and that the business of its extraction had, from a remote period to the fifteenth century, been subject to the supervision of an especial court or jury.‡ In these and some other countries, we have already shown the extraordinary accelerated demand for coal since the application of steam power; more especially within the last quarter of a century. We have also pointed out the vast capital which this substance keeps in motion; the numerous population which it employs and sustains. Great as has been the rate of advance in England, that of France and of Prussia, within the same time, has somewhat exceeded hers, while that of Pennsylvania, in the United States, has far surpassed them all. The Tyne and Wear districts, in Northumberland, are the most remarkable instances of coal production in the world. They supply above six millions of tons annually; employ about 23,000 miners; support 140,000 persons in manual labour; and, with their families and dependents, sustain 700,000 individuals. From South Wales we have received no recent returns of the annual quantity of bituminous coal and anthracite, or of the number of persons engaged in their production. The bulk of the former has always been consumed in iron making in the interior, beides a vast amount exported coastwise. Since the uses of anthracite have been made apparent, the consumption of that mineral has greatly increased. As far back as 1835, the making of bar iron in that region employed 28,000 persons. Résumé des travaux statistiques, Paris, 1839. † See many historical notes in the " History of Fossil Fuel." The total number employed in England on this branch of manufactory was, at that time, near 70,000 persons; while the aggregate of persons dependent on these was upwards of 250,000. Proceeding to a more advanced stage in iron manufactures, it was announced that the value of the hardware and cutlery annually made, was above $82,280,000, giving employment to 325,000 persons. Hence, it appears, that the number of persons directly or indirectly drawing support from the production and employment of the two substances, iron and coal, amonnt, on a rough estimate, to a million and half of persons. "It is hardly possible," says Mr. McCulloch, "to exaggerate the advantages England derives from her vast beds of coal. In this climate fuel ranks among the necessaries of life; and it is to our coal mines that we owe abundant and cheap supplies of so indispensable an article. Our coal mines are the principal source and foundation of our manufacturing and commercial prosperity. Since the invention of the steam engine, coal has become of the highest importance as a moving power; and no nation, however favourably situated in other respects, not plentifully supplied with this mineral, need hope to rival those that are, in most branches of manufacturing industry. To what is the astonishing increase of Glasgow, Manchester, Birmingham, Leeds, Sheffield, &c., and the comparatively stationary, or declining state of Canterbury, Winchester, Salisbury, and other towns in the south of England, to be ascribed? The abundance of coal in the north, and its scarcity and consequent high price in the south, is the real cause of this striking discrepancy. "Our coal mines have conferred a thousand times more real advantage on us than we have derived from the conquest of the Mogul Empire, or than we should have reaped from the dominions of Mexico and Peru. They have supplied our manfacturers and artisans with a power of unbounded energy, and easy control; and they have enabled them to overcome difficulties insurmountable by those to whom nature has been less liberal of her choicest gifts."*" Mineral Coal applied to Iron Making.-The earliest employment of this fuel in England, in the manufacture of iron, was in 1713, at Colebrookdale. In Scotland it was introduced about the middle of the eighteenth century, and in France in 1782; in the coal field of Creusot. Numberless notes will be found in the pages of this volume, in illustration of this interesting subject. GEOLOGICAL POSITION OF COAL BEDS. "Coal is found in beds, and its presence characterizes, in an especial manner, the carboniferous formation. We have to seek it then, above the transition series and below the secondary deposits; -above the schistose beds, the insoluble clays and trilobite limestones; below the arenaceous deposits which contain the debris of porphyries, the limestones with ammonites, gryphites, belemnites, &c. Statistics of the British Empire, vol. ii. p. 2. |