MACHINES FOR CUTTING COAL IN MINES 149 



Z,tmx>IN8, C 14 HN (C 7 H 9 N). A volatile nitrylo base, discovered by Anderson 

 in bone-oil. It has also been found in shale-naphtha, coal-naphtha, and in crudo 

 chinoline. 



XiYCOPODXUBX CIiAVATtriW. The spores of the lycopodium, or club-moss 

 ripen in September. They are employed, on account of their great combustibility, in 

 theatres, to imitate the sudden flash of lightning, by throwing a quantity of them 

 from a powder-puff, or bellows, across the flame of a candle. They are sometimes 

 known as ' vegetable sulphur.' 



XiYXtlAN STONE, Touchstone, or Basanite. A flinty variety of jasper, used on 

 account of its hardness, fine texture, and velvet-black colour, for trying the purity of 

 the precious metals. The amount of alloy is indicated by the colour left on the stone 

 after the metal has been rubbed across it. 



IiYELLITE. A basic sulphate of copper, occurring as a blue incrustation on 

 killas, from certain Cornish mines. It is named after Sir Charles Lyell. According 

 to Tschermak, it is a mixture of langite and gypsum. 



LYNX. An animal producing a favourite fur of a greyish-white with dark spots. 

 Most of the lynx-fur is imported from North America, and is obtained from the 

 Canadian lynx (Felis Canadensis). 



M 



MACARONI is a dough of fine wheat-flour, made into a tubular or pipe form, of 

 the thickness of goose-quills, which was first prepared in Italy, and introduced into 

 commerce under the name of Italian or Genoese paste. The wheat for this purpose 

 must be ground into a coarse flour, called gruau semoule, by the French, by means 

 of a pair of light mill-stones, placed at a somewhat greater distance than usual. This 

 semoule is the substance employed for making the dough. See VERMICIIXI. 



MACE is a somewhat thick, tough, unctuous membrane, reticulated, and of a yel- 

 lowish-brown or orange colour. It forms the envelope of the shell of the fruit of the 

 Myristica moschata, the nutmeg. It is dried in the sun, after being clipped in brine ; 

 sometimes it is sprinkled over with a little brine, before packing, to prevent the risk 

 of moulding. Mace has a more agreeable flavour than nutmeg, with a warm and 

 pungent taste. It contains two kinds of oil : the one of which is unctuous, bland, and 

 of the consistence of butter ; the other is volatile, aromatic, and thinner. Mace is 

 used as a condiment in cookery, and the aromatic oil occasionally in medicine. See 

 NUTMEG. 



MACHINES FOR THE CUTTING OX 1 COAX. IN MINES. The severe 

 character of the labour of the coal-miner, and the dangers connected with Ms employ- 

 ment have led to several mechanical appliances, by which the task of ' hewing coal ' 

 might be lessened, and the dangers attendant on the work diminished. No one has 

 given more attention to the subject than Mr. William Firth of Leeds, to whom wo are 

 indebted for one of the very first machines which have been successfully employed in 

 the cutting of coal in mines. To this gentleman we owe the following notice of the. 

 progress made within the past century in this direction : 



'In 1761 Michael Menzies of Newcastle obtained a patent for cutting coal in mines, 

 and that is the earliest evidence which we have of any attempt having been made to 

 produce a mechanical coal-cutter ; and his plans having regard to the time at which 

 they were produced, were remarkable for their ingenuity. 



' Menzies' specification is also remarkable in other respects, as showing that it was 

 his intention to make use of the 'fire-engine' as his motor; which engine had, about 

 two years previously, through the improvements of Watt and of Smeaton, attained only 

 to so much perfection as to become a doubtful rival to the ' water miln ' or ' wind 

 miln,' and the ' horse gin.' 



' By the power of one or other of these agents, he proposed to give motion to a heavy 

 iron pick, made to reciprocate by means of spears and chains, carried down the pit, 

 and with wheels and horizontal spears, on rollers, extended to the working places, and 

 there to " shear " the coal exactly as it is now performed. In the same patent, Menzies 

 included a " saw " to cut the coal ; and although nothing came from his labours, he 

 displayed so much mechanical knowledge, as to have deserved success ; and his failure 

 was evidently due to the absence of an eligible power, and not to his deficiencies as a 

 mechanic. 



'During the hundred years that followed these events more than a hundred 

 other patents were applied for, and granted ; but amongst them all, there was 



