JST. 54.] ROYAL COMMISSION ON COAL. 201 



pointed a member of the Royal Coal Commission, of 

 which he became a prominent worker. He contributed 

 two of the sub - reports, one, " On the Quantity of 

 Unwrought Coal in the Coal-Fields of Somerset," and 

 the other, " On the Probability of finding Coal under 

 the Newer Formations of the South of England." These 

 were written in 1866, and printed in 1871. 



In reply to an inquiry about water - supply on a 

 farm near Ruddington, four pages of a letter are written 

 to his young niece Sarah Scott, 1 dated 21st May 1866, 

 and describing the process for freeing hard water from 

 carbonate of lime. He then proceeds : 



But I suspect the hardness of your house -water arises not 

 from carbonate of lime, but from the presence of sulphate of 

 lime (plaster rock), which is much worse and more difficult to 

 get rid of. Boiling will do something. The best thing to do 

 is, however, to add carbonate of soda to the water, and then boil 

 it, when a considerable sediment will be thrown down. Test 

 with reddened litmus paper to see that no free alkali remains. 

 One or other of these processes will, I trust, my dear Sarah, save 

 your complexion and Alice's hands. If they do not succeed, 

 write me again at once. It is a great bore you have not got 

 a garden apply forthwith for a cottage allotment. I should 

 much like to see your quarters : I hope you will send up a 

 sketch of them. If you have nothing better to do, write very 

 often to your affectionate uncle, J. PIIESTWICH. 



There is a spice of fun in the suggestion of a cot- 

 tage allotment : the farm had been taken by a nephew 

 of independent means as an interesting experiment. 



In 1866 Dr Henry Woodward, our chief authority 

 on fossil Crustacea, published a particular account of 

 several forms allied to the living king-crabs (Limulus), 

 which had been described by Prestwich in his early 



1 Wife of Mr O'Neill, British Consul at Eouen. 



