A SCIENTIFIC VIEW OF THE COAL QUESTION. 63 



books is not, I take it, due to any popular faith that the remedy he 

 proposes the public confiscation of land will right the wrongs of 

 poverty. The consciences of the people are shocked at the immorality 

 of the proposal. Mr. George's vast audience is attentive because he 

 states very forcibly the anxieties and dangers which beset bread- 

 winners amid the contingencies of the modern industrial world. 

 When, from beyond the sea, we hear of nihilistic vengeance, social- 

 istic uprising, and dynamite plotting, it would seem that the safe- 

 guards of civilization against a relapse into barbarism are less secure 

 than is commonly imagined. Do not all these dangers spring from 

 lack of sympathy between plenty and want ? Not simply between 

 plenty and want in matters of goods and chattels, but in the better 

 things of culture and refinement. The generous man who will correct 

 with kindness the faulty arguments of a neighbor less endowed than 

 himself, who will cultivate in the youth of his acquaintance love of 

 literature, of art, and of the natural sciences, is doing as much to 

 strengthen the bonds of society as when he shares his income with 

 the destitute and forsaken. 



When I was in Ireland, four years ago, I heard many causes as- 

 signed for the prevailing discontent. My informants averred that, not 

 less than the injustice of the landlords, had the arrogant and unsym- 

 pathetic manners of many of them, and of many of their agents, 

 served to alienate the people. In the development and satisfaction of 

 the sympathies, let me repeat, lies the chief hope of establishing a 

 true brotherhood among men. 



Seeking happiness as our aim, we declare knowledge, and obedi- 

 ence to that knowledge, to be its means, and freedom its condition. 

 The cultivation of the heart must receive our attention, not less than 

 the improvement and equipment of the brain, if our lives are to be 

 worthy, useful, and happy. 



A SCIENTIFIC YIEW OF THE COAL QUESTION. 



By G. GOEE. 



IT is well known that our stock of coal is not an infinite quantity, 

 and can not last an infinite period of time. Different authorities, 

 and those who have investigated the subject, including a royal com- 

 mission, have assigned different lengths of time during which our 

 supply is likely to last ; and, according to the most reliable authori- 

 ties, it can not be much less than one hundred nor much more than two 

 hundred and fifty years. 



Our abundant store of coal and its application to industrial pur- 

 poses have been among the largest causes of our wealth and progress. 

 The value of coal for those purposes depends essentially upon the fact 



