640 SCIENCE PROGRESS 



their moisture content. They are crumbled and heated electrically in a 

 rotating calorimeter. The motion of the calorimeter (which is only about 

 one-third filled with the solid) brings the finely divided solid into contact both 

 with the heating coils and the thermocouples which measure its change of 

 temperature. 



Those of our readers who were attracted by the Draysonian ideas referred 

 to in an article in this journal three years ago (April 19 19) will be interested 

 in an article by Dr. E. O. Fountain in the Journal of the British Astronomical 

 Association (vol. xxxii, No. 3, 1921-1922) pointing out the fallacies upon 

 which the theory is based. 



It has long been felt that an important aspect of the great problem of the 

 conservation of the national coal resources involves the study and classifica- 

 tion of the coal seams which are at present being worked or developed, and 

 also of seams or portions of seams which are being left unworked or are thrown 

 aside above or below ground. This study and classification on its directly 

 practical side must dead primarily with the suitability of each particular 

 coal for those purposes for which its individual qualities render it most 

 adequate, e.g. for gas making, coke making, steam raising, or for domestic use. 



This question of survey has for some years been receiving the anxious 

 consideration of the Fuel Research Board, but the unstable conditions which 

 prevailed in the coal industry during and since the war have necessarily 

 led to the postponement of the work of organisation. It is now, however, 

 considered that the time has arrived when a beginning can wisely be made. 



The Fuel Research Board believe that this work can be most effectively 

 carried out with the help of local Committees in which colliery owners, 

 managers, and consumers are associated with the representatives of the Fuel 

 Research Board and the Geological Survey. By this combination not only 

 will local knowledge and experience be made available, but the initiative 

 of those most deeply interested in the practical aspects of this survey will be 

 secured. 



The survey work will thus from the outset assume a practical character, 

 for the selection of seams for examination will be in the hands of those who 

 are in the best position to estimate the relative importance of the problems 

 awaiting solution. The selected seams will be submitted to physical and 

 chemical examination by the local experts ; and, as a result of this examina- 

 tion, a further selection will be made of those which appear to justify experi- 

 ments on a practical scale, to test their suitability for particular uses or methods 

 of treatment. This experimental work will be carried out either at H.M. 

 Fuel Research Station, or at other works, as may be found most convenient. 



The first Committee is already actively at work in the Lancashire and 

 Cheshire District, where the local Research Association has been recognised 

 by the Fuel Research Board as its representative body for the purpose. It is 

 felt by the Fuel Research Board that the experience gained in the work and 

 organisation of this Committee will be of great value in the establishment 

 of Committees in other districts when the time is ripe for further develop- 

 ments, but they are satisfied that it will be wise to build up this national 

 organisation on the sure foundations of actual experience. 



