London Philosophical Society. 47 1 



from the fire- and choak-damps were described. The nature 

 and properties of these noxious vapours were illustrated by 

 experiments, and some account given ot the different modea 

 of clearing the mines in different districts. 



Mr. Bakewell observed, that Dr. Miller and other writers 

 on the coal districts of England had entirely overlooked 

 the coal of the West Riding of Yorkshire, although the 

 quantity procured there supplied a population nearly equal 

 to that of London, besides the extensive manufactories of 

 that county. He described the manner in which the quan-^ 

 tity of coal in the coal-fields of Northumberland and Dur- 

 ham had been estimated ; from whence it appeared that at 

 the present rate of consumption they would be entirely ex- 

 hausted in the space of three centuries. Were there no 

 other repositories but these, he observed that it would be- 

 come the duty of a wise statesman to prevent exportation. 

 to foreign countries, and to plant all our waste lanrls, and 

 provide against impending though remote calamity. Let 

 any person, said he, reflect on the condition of the metro- 

 polis were it deprived for three months of the supply of 

 coal. All the wood in the country would be destroyed, 

 our manufactories would be annihilated, and a scene of 

 national calamity would ensue, of which we can scarcely 

 form an idea. 



But besides extensive coal-fields in Yorkshire and other 

 parts of England, at present scarcely touched, there exists 

 a great repository in South W^les of one thousand square 

 miles of coal, which, from the thickness of the different 

 strata, he calculated would supply the cousumption of Bri- 

 ta'-n for several thousand years to come, estimating that 

 consumption at twelve million tons annually. He con- 

 cluded by giving a short outline of the coal districts in 

 different parts of the world, and the periods at which coals 

 appear to have been introduced for fuel. It may excite a 

 smile, said he, at the ignorance of our ancestors, to find an 

 act of parliament in tlfe reign of Elizabeth, prohibiting the 

 burning of coal in London during the sitting of parlia- 

 ment; "but probably posterity at no distant period may 

 look with equal surprise at the general indifference evinced 

 by landed proprietors of the present day, respecting the 

 mineral substances on thi;ir own estates. 



LONDON PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETV. 

 f Continued from p. SD.j.] 



Mr. Clarkson next proceeded to investigate the charac^ 

 ttds of moral existence, observing, that pathognomy had 



already 



