1875.] ( 393 ) 
PROGRESS IN SCIENCE. 
MINING. 
In a Memoir on the Geology of Darjiling, recently published by the Geological 
Survey of India, Mr. F. R. Mallet gives some interesting faéts respecting the 
occurrence of coal in this locality. Although the late Dr. Archibald Campbell 
many years ago called attention to the reputed discovery of coal in this out- 
of-the-way corner of India, it was not until Dr. Hooker visited the country, in 
1849, that true carbonaceous deposits were observed. The importance of a 
supply of coal for the great trunk railways of India has caused attention to be 
hitherto concentrated on the fields south of the Ganges; but the conneétion 
of Calcutta with the hill-country, by means of the Northern Bengal State 
Railway, has recently directed attention to the Darjiling coal, and has led to 
the investigation of the country by the Geological Survey. Mr. Mallet gives 
a list of localities where the coal-seams crop out. Most of these seams are 
highly inclined, and have been so violently disturbed that the coal is for the 
most part crushed, and even reduced to powder, so that it could be easily dug 
out, but would need to be compacted by artificial means in order to be avail- 
able as tuel. The writer discusses the question whether it should be coked or 
prepared as artificial fuel, and inclines to the latter method. 
Copper-mining has long been carried on in the neighbourhood of Darjiling, 
though only on a small scale and unsystematically. The ore is copper- 
pyrites,—not in true lodes, but disseminated through slates and schists. A 
description of the crude methods of mining and smelting the ores, as practised 
by the natives, is given by Mr. Mallet in his ‘‘ Survey Memoir.”’ He concludes 
that the prospect of copper-mining in this distri is noi inviting to European 
enterprise. 
Some notes on the iron ores of Kumaon have been contributed to the 
records of the Geological Survey of India, by Mr. Theodore Hughes, who has 
also published some notes on the raw materials employed for iron-smelting in 
the Ranigang coal-field. The weak point in most of the Indian coals appears 
to be the large proportion of inorganic matter which they contain as compared 
with that of our own coals. A complete series of analyses of thirty different 
Indian coals has lately been made by Mr. Tween, under Dr. Oldham’s 
direction. 
In consequence of the reported discovery of a new coal-field in the Garoo 
Hills, a cursory examination of the district has been made by Mr. H. B. Med- 
licott, who thinks it safe to conclude, from his observations, that a coal-field 
of considerable extent exists in the very heart of these hills, the measures 
occupying an area of about 12 or 15 square miles. 
Mr. V. Ball publishes, in the Records of the Indian Survey, a note of his 
visit to the coal-deposits recently discovered in the south-east corner of 
Afghanistan ; and Mr. R. Bruce Foote describes his examination of the gold- 
deposits of the Dambal Hills, with the view of determining the sources whence 
the stream-gold of this region has been derived. 
Large deposits of iron ore and extensive beds of coal occur in the neigh- 
bourhood of Wallerawang, about too miles from Sydney. These deposits 
have recently been visited and described by Prof. Liversidge, who has recorded 
his observations in an interesting paper. The ores—chiefly magnetic and 
brown iron ores—occur near the junction of the coal-measures with either 
Upper Siiurian or Devonian rocks. The coal-measures contain several valu- 
able beds, including three principal seams, of which the lowest has a thickness 
of 17 feet 6 inches, the middle seam 6 feet 6 inches, and the uppermost 4 feet 
6 inches. Limestone occurs in the neighbourhood, and, on the whole, the 
distrid of Wallerawang appears desuned to be one of the most flourishing 
mining centres in the Colony. 
