CRITICAL NOTICES OF NEW PUBLICATIONS. 265 



information to be derived from a scientific and topographical description, 

 has been evidently the professed aim of the intelligent author ; and in 

 this attempt he has most ably succeeded. 



In his observations on the mining district, the following extract on tha 

 article of coal consumed for one particular purpose — the smelting of 

 iron ore, will excite no small degree of astonishment : — 



♦* One hundred and fifty years ago, though coal was, says Plot, * used, not only 

 in private families, but for most, if not all of the mechanical purposes ;' though it 

 was also ' prepared by charring, and called coak,' which rendered it more exten- 

 sively useful, there were but fifty or sixty thousand tons raised annually in the 

 whole district. Such a statement, compared with the present production, exhibits 

 a difference and an increase absolutely astounding ; a sum and magnitude approach- 

 ing the sublime. To illustrate this, in a striking point of view, it may be well to 

 consider the quantity of coal raised for one particular purpose, — the smelting of 

 iron ore. A single iron furnace, in active operation, runs out, weekly, nearly fifty 

 tons of metal. These fifty tons are produced at the cost of about seven tons of 

 coal to each ton of iron, or three hundred and fifty tons of coal per furnace per 

 week. Multiply this by fifty-two for the number of weeks in a year, and the 

 product by a hundred for the number of furnaces in the district, and the result, 

 a million and three quarter of tons of coals, gives a rough estimate — not of the 

 quantity produced ; not including that which is required to render the pig or fused 

 iron fit for the hammer, nor the vast amount used in the preparation of manufac- 

 tured articles, nor the contents of the countless loaded boats sent for the supply, 

 domestic and manufacturing, of distant places ; but only that which is consumed 

 in the act of rendering fit for the foundry or the forge, the iron smelted in the 

 district. A quantity equal to thirty times the entire and total produce of 1680, 

 consumed in effecting that which was then performed by the combustion of other 

 fuel / The mind is bewildered with the conception of a totality so vast ; — of a 

 consumption so prodigious. 



♦' We might continue the calculation by assuming a similar quantity as the total, 

 employed to the other various purposes, but no certain data could be adduced to 

 verify the statement. Enough has been said to shew the extraordinary changes 

 that have taken place in this neighbourhood, within a comparatively short space of 

 time ; to exhibit the prodigious natural wealth of the district ; and to evince that 

 some consideration as to the mode in which these treasures are deposited in the 

 recesses of the earth, may fairly be expected to be attended with much interest." 



The following account of a descent into a coal-mine, and the method 

 of working it, will not fail, also, to prove interesting : — 



" The traveller, in a mineral country, will scarcely consider that he has seen all 

 that claims his attention, unless he descend into the subterranean depths where the 

 work is carried on. There is something novel and interesting in the act of ex- 

 ploring the secrets of the mine. It resembles a rapid visit to another world, or aa 

 unknown country. The trip, however, is quickly performed, — without difficulty or 

 danger ; — and the information required well defrays the cost of time so bestowed. 



" While the trifling pre-arrangements are making for a descent, the visitor takes 

 a rapid glance at the apparatus on the surface. Of this, the principal object is a 

 steam-engine, of greater or less power, in proportion as the pit is more or less 

 troubled with water, — in some cases, the contest with this enemy entirely employs 

 a very powerful engine, so that the coals are drawn up by means of another smaller 

 engine placed near the principal one. The water is raised by the alternate action 

 of two pistons, which thus throw out the intrusive fluid in a continued stream. 

 Elevated above the mouth of the working shaft is placed a simple triangular 

 tackling, from which, at the height of twenty to twenty-five feet, hangs a small 

 iron wheel, over which passes the end of a long flat rope or chain, about four 

 inches broad, which is coiled round an axis or band, moved by the engine. At the 

 end of this chain is suspended the platform or carriage, on which the visitor and 

 his guide place themselves, and which reposes upon the sliding head or cover of the 

 shaft. This carriage is first raised a little in order to withdraw the wooden 

 covering ; and the shaft or pit then lies open in all its black profundity. The 

 carriage immediately commences its descent — rapidly and silently. Casting an 

 upward look on the failing light, the stranger's attention is arrested, to perceive 

 that all the weight of himself, his guide, and the carriage, is insufficient to keep 

 the rope in a complete state of tension, but that it undulates in considerable waves 



