CRITICAL NOTICE)^ OF NEW PUBLICATIONS. 427 



p. 81, appears to vary very little in the mine, whatever the air may be 

 at the surface ; and, in the workings, the air is so regulated as to render 

 the temperature very nearly the same, both in winter and in summer. 

 The radiation of the brick-work of the shaft frequently warms the cold 

 air in passing; and, on the contrary, it absorbs extra heat in the dis- 

 charge. Whenever the barometer is low, at twenty-eight inches and a 

 half, the circulation requires much management ; and, like the presage 

 of a storm at sea, such a state of the barometer is reported to the bailiffs 

 under ground, that they may be on their guard either against the accu- 

 mulation of inflammable air, or of carbonic acid gas." 



Chap. XII. — Here, Mr. M. gives a detailed account of *'The mode of 

 working the Seam of Main Coal,'* and his description abounds with 

 practical information, the result of a highly improved experience. To 

 this chapter we particularl y direct the attention of persons engaged in 

 the operations of actual mining, and close our sketch of the " geological 

 facts" with the following remarkable observations. The workmen em- 

 ployed in these mines, p. 85, do not suffer from any particular disease 

 calculated to shorten life. Those underground, at the coal wall, are 

 generally in a temperature varying from 65° to 75° F. and work naked to 

 the waist, for the most part free from wet. The horses, also underground, 

 are sleek and healthy, and the smoke of engines and large fires upon the 

 pit-banks is considered healthful by the men themselves, rather than 

 otherwise. Inhalation of the smoke of pit-coal is not yet proved to be 

 detrimental to health ; indeed, since coal has been used in London, it is 

 notorious how little the dense masses of people, confined within this 

 overgrown metropolis, have suffered from any pestilence. Thus, in con- 

 formity with our character as analysts, we have endeavoured to furnish 

 our readers with a foretaste of the treasures concentrated in Mr. Mam- 

 raatt's magnificent volume ; and, in conclusion, we express a well- 

 assured hope that his excellent monograph may soon be followed by 

 many other " collections of facts" which shall be elements of a geognos- 

 tical philosophy, whereby the origin and regeneration of this terrestrial 

 orb will be scientifically explained. 



The Melange, a variety of original pieces in prose and verse ; comprising 

 the Elysium of Animals. By Egerton Smith, Simpkin and Mar- 

 shall, London ; and Smith and Co. Liverpool. 



Much information and considerable amusement will be obtained by a 

 perusal of this production. It appears to have been issued from the 

 press, at sundry times, probably in numbers, but the work which came 

 into our possession is a thick duodecimo of upwards of 600 pages. If 

 poetry and prose, serious and humorous, useful and entertaining, with 

 which pedantry and dulness have no aflfinity, are recommendations to the 

 reader, then can we boldly recommend this volume without fearing the 

 charge of undue partiality. To beguile a reviewer of literature into the 

 onerous task of attentively reading 600 pages of uninteresting matter, is 

 by no means an easy undertaking — two or three of the leading pages, 

 and a cursory dip into the middle and latter end of the volume, is 

 usually sufficient examination for a very dull and ill-assorted com- 

 position — but our risible faculties have been so tickled by many of the 

 ludicrous articles in this miscellany of wit and instruction, that we have 

 been actually induced to read over several pages two or three times in 

 succession. We mean to keep the volume on our library table during 

 the winter months, as a talisman to drive away the ennui which bulky 

 and dull works are very apt to engender. — In selecting the following 



