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sider, that a large proportion of this power is applied to move machinery, and that the amount of work now done by machinery in England, has been supposed to be equivalent to that of between three and four hundred millions of men by direct labour, we are almost astounded at the influence of Coal and Iron and Steam, upon the fate and fortunes of the human race. "It is on the rivers," (says Mr. Webster,) "and the boatman may repose on his oars; it is in high ways, and begins to exert itself along the courses of land conveyances; it is at the bottom of mines, a thousand (he might have said, 1800) feet below the earth's surface; it is in the mill, and in the workshops of the trades. It rows, it pumps, it excavates, it carries, it draws, it lifts, it hammers, it spins, it weaves, it prints.'

We need no further evidence to shew that the presence of coal is, in an especial degree, the

which would do the work of that number of horses constantly acting, but supposing that the same horses could work only 8 hours in every 24, there must be 75 horses kept at least to produce the effect of such an engine.

The largest Engine in Cornwall may, if worked to the full extent, be equal to from a 300 to 350 horse power, and would therefore require 1000 horses to be kept to produce the same constant effect. In this way it has been said that an Engine was of 1000 horse power, but this is not according to the usual computation. Letter from J. Taylor, Esq. to Dr. Buckland.

* As there is no reproduction of Coal in this country, since no natural causes are now in operation to form other beds of it; whilst, owing to the regular increase of our population, and the

foundation of increasing population, riches, and power, and of improvement in almost every Art which administers to the necessities and comforts of Mankind. And, however remote may

new purposes to which the steam engine is continually applied, its consumption is advancing at a rapidly accelerating rate; it is of most portentous interest to a nation, that has so large a portion of its inhabitants dependent for existence on machinery, kept in action only by the use of coal, to economize this precious fuel. I cannot, therefore, conclude this interesting subject without making some remarks upon a practice which can only be viewed in the light of a national calamity, demanding the attention of the legislature.

We have, during many years witnessed the disgraceful and almost incredible fact, that more than a million chaldrons per annum, being nearly one third part of the best coals produced by the mines near Newcastle, have been condemned to wanton waste, on a fiery heap perpetually blazing near the mouth of almost every coal pit in that district.

This destruction originated mainly in certain legislative enactments, providing that Coal in London should be sold, and the duty upon it be rated, by measure, and not by weight. The smaller Coal is broken, the greater the space it fills; it became, therefore, the interest of every dealer in Coal, to buy it of as large a size, and to sell it of as small a size as he was able. This compelled the Proprietors of the Coal-mines to send the large Coal only to market, and to consign the small Coal to destruction.

In the year 1830, the attention of Parliament was called to these evils; and pursuant to the Report of a Committee, the duty on Coal was repealed, and Coal directed to be sold by weight instead of measure. The effect of this change has been, that a considerable quantity of Coal is now shipped for the London Market, in the state in which it comes from the pit; that after landing the cargo, the small coal is separated by skreening from the rest, and answers as fuel for various ordinary purposes, as well as much of the Coal which was sold in London before the alteration of the law.

have been the periods, at which these materials of future beneficial dispensations were laid up in store, we may fairly assume, that, besides the immediate purposes effected at, or before the time

The destruction of Coals on the fiery heaps near Newcastle, although diminished, still goes on, however, to a frightful extent, that ought not to be permitted; since the inevitable consequence of this practice, if allowed to continue, must be, in no long space of time, to consume all the beds nearest to the surface, and readiest of access to the coast; and thus enhance the price of Coal in those parts of England which depend upon the Coalfield of Newcastle for their supply; and finally to exhaust this Coal-field, at a period, nearer by at least one third, than that to which it would last, if wisely economized. (See Report of the Select Committee of the House of Commons, on the state of the Coal Trade, 1830, p. 242, and Bakewell's Introduction to Geology, 1833, p. 183 and 543.)

We are all fully aware of the impolicy of needless legislative interference; but a broad line has been drawn by nature between commodities annually or periodically reproduced by the Soil on its surface, and that subterranean treasure, and sustaining foundation of Industry, which is laid by Nature in strata of mineral Coal, whose amount is limited, and which, when once exhausted, is gone for ever. As the Law most justly interferes to prevent the wanton destruction of life and property, it should seem also to be its duty to prevent all needless waste of mineral fuel; since the exhaustion of this fuel would irrecoverably paralyze the industry of millions. The Tenant of the soil may neglect, or cultivate his lands, and dispose of his produce, as caprice or interest may dictate; the surface of his fields is not consumed, but remains susceptible of tillage by his successor; had he the physical power to annihilate the Land, and thereby inflict an irremediable injury upon posterity, the legislature would justly interfere to prevent such destruction of the future resources of the nation. This highly favoured Country, has been enriched with mineral treasures in her strata of Coal, incomparably more precious than

of their deposition in the strata of the Earth, an ulterior prospective view to the future uses of Man, formed part of the design, with which they were, ages ago, disposed in a manner so admirably adapted to the benefit of the Human Race.

mines of silver or of gold. From these sustaining sources of industry and wealth let us help ourselves abundantly, and liberally enjoy these precious gifts of the Creator; but let us not abuse them, or by wilful neglect and wanton waste, destroy the foundations of the Industry of future Generations.

Might not an easy remedy for this evil be found in a Legislative enactment, that all Coals from the Ports of Northumberland and Durham, should be shipped in the state in which they come from the Pit, and forbidding by high penalties the screening of any Sea-borne Coals before they leave the Port at which they are embarked. A Law of this kind would at once terminate that ruinous competition among the Coal owners, which has urged them to vie with each other in the wasteful destruction of small Coal, in order to increase the Profits of the Coal Merchants, and gratify the preference for large Coals on the part of rich consumers; and would also afford the Public a supply of Coals of every price and quality, which the use of the screen would enable him to accommodate to the demands of the various Classes of the Community.

A farther consideration of national Policy should prompt us to consider, how far the duty of supporting our commercial interests, and of husbanding the resources of posterity should permit us to allow any extensive exportation of Coal, from a densely peopled manufacturing country like our own; a large proportion of whose present wealth is founded on machinery, which can be kept in action only by the produce of our native Coal Mines, and whose prosperity can never survive the period of their exhaustion.

539

CHAPTER XX.

Proofs of Design in the Effects of Disturbing Forces on the Strata of the Earth.

IN the proofs of the agency of a wise, and powerful, and benevolent Creator, which we have derived from the Animal and Vegetable kingdoms, the evidence has rested chiefly on the prevalence of Adaptations and Contrivances, and of Mechanisms adapted to the production of certain ends, throughout the organic remains of a former world.

An argument of another kind may be founded on the Order, Symmetry, and Constancy, of the Crystalline forms of the unorganized Mineral ingredients of the Earth. But in considering the great geological phenomena which appear in the disposition of the strata, and their various accidents, a third kind of evidence arises from conditions of the earth, which are the result of disturbing forces, that appear to a certain degree to have acted at random and fortuitously.

Elevations and subsidences, inclinations and contortions, fractures and dislocations, are phenomena, which, although at first sight they present only the appearance of disorder and con

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