504 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



the great East Anglian plain, while the Fen country, the Somerset- 

 shire levels, and Holderness consist mainly of alluvium. Thus we see 

 that, little as the mediaeval farmer suspected it, the distribution of his 

 corn-fields and pasture-lands, his orchards and sheep-walks, nay, even 

 of the royal forests and the barren heaths, was finally dependent upon 

 underlying geological conditions. 



Even in mediaeval and agricultural England, however, certain par- 

 ticular spots acquired a special industrial character from the nature 

 of the subjacent strata. The occurrence of fuller's earth in the Stroud 

 Valley and near Bath and Bradford gave rise to the west country 

 cloth-trade. Salt was pumped from several inland wells in the Trias 

 at Droitwich in Worcestershire, at Northwich, Sandbach, Middlewich, 

 and Nantwich in Cheshire, and at Shirleywich in Staffordshire. The 

 bays in which sea-water had been evaporated to yield salt had been 

 known as " wyches," and the same word was applied to the new wych- 

 houses of the interior. Clay suitable for potteries was found in many 

 places, and naturally produced a small trade. But mines were little 

 worked, and building-stone, of which more must be said hereafter, 

 formed almost the only other geological differentiating factor between 

 various districts. 



The change to the modern industrial distribution is far too large a 

 subject to be treated otherwise than quite cursorily here ; but a few 

 traits of the change may perhaps be sketched with a rapid pen. In 

 Britain mineral wealth is almost universally connected with the pri- 

 mary formations. Our coal more especially has formed the great 

 central pivot upon which turns the whole manufacturing and commer- 

 cial system of the country. As soon, therefore, as the use of steam 

 began to revolutionize our industrial world, the primary tracts of Eng- 

 land, Wales, and Scotland, rose to the highest importance. The pop- 

 ulation of Britain suddenly found itself turned back upon the Keltic 

 and coal-bearing regions. A slight classification of the various great 

 towns of modern Britain according to the coal-fields in which they 

 stand, or on which they depend, will serve to show the vastness of the 

 revolution . 



In or around*the Scottish coal-field stand Glasgow, Paisley, and 

 Greenock. Above the Tyne colliery region are Newcastle, North 

 Shields, and Durham, while close at hand lie Sunderland, Stockton, 

 Darlington, Middlesborough, and the Cleveland iron district. The 

 Lancashire field incloses Manchester, Blackburn, Wigan, Bolton, St. 

 Helens, Burnley, Middleton, Oldham, Rochdale, and Ashton, with 

 Liverpool for its port, and Preston and Macclesfield upon its outskirts. 

 An outlier contains Stoke-upon-Trent and Newcastle-under-Lyne. 

 The West Riding coal-field includes Leeds, Bradford, Wakefield, 

 Barnsley, Sheffield, and Chesterfield, while Huddersfield, Nottingham, 

 and Derby hang upon its border, and Hull supplies it with an eastward 

 outlet. The Staffordshire tract comprises Wolverhampton, Bilston, 



