DOMAIN VI. CARBONACEOUS. 



not only in China, but in other countries. So- 

 linus * evidently indicates the use of coal, when, 

 mentioning the medical waters at Bath, he says 

 they are dedicated to Minerva, " in whose temple 

 the perpetual fire does not leave embers, but 

 is changed into rocky lumps." This pretended 

 miracle was the natural progress of a coal fire, 

 caked into hard cinders, instead of the soft em- 

 bers of wood. The abundance of coal in the 

 neighbourhood of Bath also favours this suppo- 

 sition. Nay, Theophrastus mentions that the 

 smiths of Greece sometimes used a black stone 

 for their fires, which must have been coal f. In 

 England it seems to have been in common use in 

 the twelfth century ; but still more early in 

 Flanders. 



Coal forms prodigious strata, generally rather 

 descending than rising ; but the hill of St. Gilles, 

 near Liege, may be said to be chiefly composed 

 of coal, of which there are not less than 50 or 

 60 strata. The deepest mines known, are said 

 to be those of the country of Namur, some of 



* Cap. 25. 



*f He says it was found in Liguria, as was amber, and also in 

 Elis j and he speaks of its use as common among the smiths. For 

 that of Liguria, see Mode iv. Gagas whence the name of jet, as 

 first found there, was near Chimera, probably a pseudovolcano, 

 arising from inflamed coal. 



