362 Notices of Books. (July, 
coal-field, and in the neighbourhood of Newcastle—the two 
localities selected as offering the best examples of modern 
colliery appliances. 
After leaving the screens at the pit’s mouth, the coal suffers 
more or less breakage during railway transit. Mr. Danvers does 
not, however, think that the amount of disintegration in a 
waggon increases in proportion to the length of the journey ; for 
after the first few miles the large lumps get firmly seated on a 
bed of small coal formed by the mutual abrasion of sharp 
corners. Admitting this, one may question the propriety of 
screening at the pit, since the small coal thus removed would 
evidently be useful in filling up spaces between the larger blocks. 
It must not be supposed that the injury which coal suffers 
stops at the end of its journey. If the fuel be stored in open 
air it gradually disintegrates, and at the same time loses much 
of its heating power: indeed, the value of steam coal may 
actually be reduced one-half by exposure to the air for six 
months. It is consequently important that coal should be pro- 
tected in the depdts in which it is stored; and of late years 
much attention has been paid to the construction of such 
buildings. 
After the employment of even the most approved machinery 
in connection with coal traffic, there must needs be a considerable 
amount of almost valueless small coal—duff, slack, or waste, as 
it is usually called—and it remains to see how this can be 
profitably utilised. Without following the author into his long 
discussion of the principles of combustion and the economic 
use of fuel, we may cite his opinion that the method at present 
most convenient and most generally applicable for utilising small 
coal is that of manufacturing it into artificial or patent fuel. 
Several methods devised for this purpose are here described : 
different patentees have suggested the use of pitch, tar, starch, 
and alkaline silicates as the cementing material by which the 
slack is formed into blocks. The author recommends that the 
coal be washed to remove as far as possible the shale and other 
associated impurities, and then be moulded into blocks by means 
of a mixture of starch and bituminous matter. 
Before closing the present work it is right to state that the 
information which it contains was originally collected by Mr. 
Danvers with the view of forming a Report for presentation to 
the Indian Government. 
Coal mining is at present in its infancy in India; but the 
rapid extension of the railway system—not to speak of other 
sources of demand—creates a growing increase in the want of 
fuel—a want which the forests, in spite of all conservancy, 
cannot continue to supply, and which must ultimately necessitate 
the development of the coal-fields of India. But in a country 
where the coal resources are but limited, and where the coal is 
for the most part extremely tender and liable to suffer spon- 
