538 Progress in Science. { October, 
like an approximation to accuracy, what extent of hematite still remains 
unwrought. 
It may be well to remark that a description of the hematite deposits of 
Whitehaven and Furness, by Mr. J. D. Kendall, was laid before the Geolo- 
gical Society of London at its last meeting. 
Whilst the occurrence of valuable hematite in Furness has led to the 
establishment of a vast industry in this district, it is to be regretted that coal 
has not been found in the neighbourhood of the ores. Search has been made 
from time to time, but hitherto without success. The most promising of 
these undertakings is that at Rampside, where a boring was commenced about 
five years ago, and has been energetically prosecuted in the face of great 
difficulties. Mr. Alexander Brogden, M.P., read a paper on this boring to the 
Iron and Steel Institute. For some time past the diamond-boring machine 
has been at work here, and at present the bore-hole has reached a depth of 
1450 feet. 
Irish coal-mining is carried on to so limited an extent that we may fairly 
call attention to the Tyrone coal-field, which ought to be developed with great 
benefit to the North of Ireland. Mr. E. T. Hardman, of the Geological 
Survey, has recently described this field. It measures only about 2} miles in 
length by 1} mile in width; but although of so small an area it contains 
about twenty-four seams, of which at least thirteen are workable. They all 
consist of highly bituminous coal, of true Carboniferous age; fire-damp is 
almost unknown in the pits. Mr. Hardman estimates that the field still con- 
tains from 30 to 40 millions of tons of coal. Iron-stones are associated with 
the coal, though not in sufficient quantity to admit of being profitably worked, 
but the fire-clays in the upper part of the measures are largely used for the 
manufadiure of bricks and tiles. 
At a meeting of the Institute of Mining and Mechanical Engineers, recently 
held at Cardiff, a paper of much interest, “On the Coal-Fields of South 
Wales,” was read by Mr. Forster Brown, the President of the South Wales 
Institute of Engineers. After tracing the history of iron-smelting in this 
district, he described in detail the geological structure of this field. Practically 
the field is divided into two separate parts, by an anticlinal ridge running ina 
sinuous east and west course. In passing from one part of the field to 
another, a change may be observed from bituminous coal to anthracite: this 
change operates both horizontally and vertically; thus, in passing from east 
to west the coal becomes, as a rule, more anthracite, whilst in other cases 
the upper seams in a vertical section may be more bituminous than the 
lower. Mr. Brown contrasted the modes of working coal in South Wales 
with those followed in the North of England. 
To the same meeting a paper “ On the Coal-Fields and Mining Industries 
of Russia was communicated by Mr. J. B. Simpson, who had recently visited 
some of the Russian collieries. The coal-fields of Russia may be referred to 
three distri¢ts :—the Tula coal-field, at present but little worked; the Donetz 
field, embracing a great thickness of good coals, partly bituminous and partly 
anthracitic; and a long narrow coal-field at the base of the Ural Mountains. 
None of the coal in these districts is of true Carboniferous age, and indeed 
the only coal-measure fuel belonging to Russia is to be found in a small, but 
productive, basin in Poland—perhaps an extension of the coal-field of Upper 
Silesia. 
Attention has been directed, by Mr. P. Le Neve Foster, jun., to the coal- 
fields of Italy. It appears that Italy does not possess any coal of the true 
Carboniferous period, but many of the tertiary lignites are of very superior 
quality, and consequently well worth the expense of working. Mr. Foster has 
examined and described the coal-fields of the Tuscan Maremma, which are 
split up into a series of small basins by intrusions of eruptive rocks. 
Three Reports on the Coal-Fields of Victoria have been drawn up by the 
Board which was appointed some time ago, by the Minister of Mines, to in- 
vestigate and report upon the coal resources of the Colony. The fields of 
