340 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1912. 



intrusive dilces and mineral veins. Unfortunately for Williams's 

 standing as a scientist, he considered it necessary to present a 

 theory accounting for all geologic phenomena and to show the errors 

 in Hutton's conclusions, which had then just appeared. 



Inasmuch as Williams treated coal deposits quantitatively, he 

 was far ahead of his generation. He pointed out that coal beds 

 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's 

 attitude: 



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 in inexhaustible. That the fund of coal treasured 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 

 predicament, 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 individual of very little conse- 

 quence 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 remorse; 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's 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 recommending governmental 

 surveys and investigations of mineral resources. After pointmg 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: 



In discussing this topic, wo presume to suggest, that, in the first place, it is necessary 

 for Government to explore and discover these coals, and lay them bare for the inspec- 

 tion of British coal masters or companies, and with this view, the first thing to be done, 

 is to employ a prudent man of abilities and skill in the theory and practice of the coal 

 business; to survey the West India coals and coal fields; to make such trials upon 

 the coals already discovered, and those he may discover, as may be necessary to 



