MODE III. COAL. 



MODE III. COAL. 



This useful substance, which may be said to sites, 

 form the gold mines of England, is not only par- 

 ticularly abundant in the British dominions, but 

 widely diffused over many parts of the world. 

 The Netherlands and France seem to follow 

 Great Britain in this mineral wealth ; but it also 

 appears in the north of Italy, and various parts 

 of Germany, as Silesia and Hessia*. It has been 

 used in the north of China from time immemo- 

 rial, and is not unknown in Japan. Its discovery 

 in Australasia would add little to the advantages 

 of a new country abounding in wood. Con- 

 cerning the coal of Africa, nothing seems to be 

 reported. In the territory of the United States 

 of America, coal is said to abound on both sides 

 of the James river, but particularly in Virginia, 

 and towards the Ohio. In the isle of Cape Bre- 

 ton there is an extensive bed of coal, which is 

 chiefly used for ballast. 



Coal appears to have been anciently known, Ancient use. 



* There is a mine of excellent coal in limestone, in the hill 

 of St. Gingoulph, near Geneva, pronounced, as Saussure observes, 

 324, St. Gingo, probably the source of a ludicrous oath in 

 England, because the first reformers were educated at Geneva. 



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