brooks: applied geology 33 



are definitely limited, and this at about the time that Werner was 

 preparing to launch his theory of "Universal formations." A 

 few quotations from his book will serve to illustrate Williams' atti- 

 tude : 



The result of his investigation refutes by inference another erroneous 

 opinion concerning coal, which I have often heard asserted with great 

 confidence, viz., that coal is inexhaustible. That the fund of coal treas- 

 ured up in the superfices of the globe, for the accommodation of society, 

 is very great, I readily acknowledge; but that it is inexhaustible, in the 

 proper sense of the word, I deny. 



If our coals really are not inexhaustible, the rapid and lavish consumpt 

 of them calls aloud for the attention of the Legislature, because the 

 very existence of the metropolis depends upon the continued abundance 

 of this precious fossil, and not only the metropolis, but also the existence 

 of the other cities and great towns, and of the most fertile countries in 

 the three kingdoms, depend upon the abundance of this valuable article; 

 and moreover, most of our valuable manufactures are in the same pre- 

 dicament, and, therefore, if our coal mines are not inexhaustible, it is 

 high time to look into the real state of our collieries. 



I feel in myself a strong reluctance against sounding the alarm to my 

 country in a matter of so much importance. I am but an obscure indi- 

 vidual of very little consequence in the world, and I have not the least 

 doubt that I shall be severely censured by many for my presumption, 

 and therefore I proceed with sensible remorse; but it is not guilty re- 

 morse; on the contrary, my heart tells me, that were I to temporize with 

 my own feelings of reluctance, and to conceal a truth which so nearly 

 concerns the welfare of the community, for fear of incurring censure, 

 my silence would be unpardonable. 



The present rage for exporting coals to other nations may aptly be 

 compared to a careless spendthrift, who wastes all in his youth, and then 

 heavily drags on a wretched life to miserable old age, and leaves nothing 

 for his heirs. 



While Williams' dire prophesies, made a century and quarter 

 ago, of the early exhaustion of England's coal have not been jus- 

 tified, yet he seems to have been one of the first to urge upon 

 public attention the close relation between the prosperity of a 

 nation and its fuel supply. He was also a pioneer in recommend- 

 ing governmental surveys and investigations of mineral resources. 

 After pointing out the value of the Cape Breton and other coals 

 in the British North American possessions and recommending 

 their development, he goes on to say: 



