1844.] 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND x\RCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



355 



EXPOSITION DE L'INDUSTRIE FRANCAISE. 



MINERALS— MINEKAL SUBSTANCES OTllEK THAN MEl'AI.S. 



(Coutinued from page 328J 



Combustible Fossils.— Coal has been employed for ccnlurics at Newcastle 

 anil Liege, but in Fiance its use is of much later date. In 1520, the Faculty 

 of Medicine, being consulted with regard to the use which was then begun to 

 be made of English coal in Paris, gave their opinion that with precautions to 

 avoid the inconvenience of smoke, this fuel might be used without injury to 

 the public health. Thirty years afterwards a proclamation was issued for- 

 bidding farriers, on the occasion of an epidemic malady, under pain of fine 

 and imprisonment, from using coal in their shops. Prejudices however wore 

 away, and Henry the Fourth exempted coal from the payment of the royalty 

 of a tenth. Lewis 14, also encouraged it, and put a duty on the importation 

 of foreign coal. At the time of the great revolution, however, the whole 

 consumption of coal in France was not more than 450,000 tons, of which half 

 was supplied by importation. The quantity of wood fuel consumed in France 

 is calculated at 15,000,000 tons, (10 metrical quintals or a thousand kilograms 

 being taken as a ton), and of coal 5,000,000 ; coal is however reckoned to 

 have double the calorific power of wood, so that coal may he considered as 

 supplying two-fifths, and wood three-fifths. The superficies from wdiich the 

 wood is obtained is 20,000,000 acres, or 30,000 square miles, being sixteen 

 times the superficies of the coal deposits, which moreover are available for 

 agricultuie. The progress in the consumption of coal in France since 1815 

 has been as follows: 



Freuch Importation, Total consumption, 



produce, tona. tons. tons. 



1815 881,500 249,300 4,121,000 



1825 1.491,300 508,600 1,904,300 



1830 1,862,000 637,200 2,493,900 



1835 2,506,400 793,100 3.278,200 



1840 3,003,300 J, 290,600 4,256,700 



1841 3,410,100 1,619,100 4,979,800 

 Thus whilst since 1815 the production of coal in France has quadrupled, 



the importation of fori ign coal has increased seven fold. France possesses 

 46 coal basins, and up to 1841, 392 coal mines had been granted, of which 

 256 were in work. The superficies of the sets was more than 1,000,000 acres 

 (432,000 hectares), 670 pits had been sunk, and 365 levels run. The maximum 

 depth which had been reached was in the mines of Anzin, 1571 feet (479 

 metres). The mines were worked by 146 horse machines, and 388 steam en- 

 gines, of a total force of 9,667 h. p. More than 30,000 men were employed. 

 The total value of the produce was £1,320,000, at a mean price of 97 centimes 

 per metrical quintal. Of the 3,410,000 tons of ten metrical quintals, the Loire 

 basin furnished a third, and the Valenciennes basin more than a quarler_ 

 Next came the basins of Creuzot and Blanzy (Saone and Loire), Alais (Card), 

 Aubin, (Aveyron), Epinac (Saone and Loire), &c. Of the 1,600,000 tons im- 

 ported, 1,000,000 aie from Belgium, 4,000,000 from England, and 200,000 

 from Prussia. The great difficulty in the way of the French coal owners, is 

 (he want of good.'communications with the markets. 



The state of France stands thus. The Belgian coals at the door are brought 

 into the North and to Paris by the lines of navigation, the English coals are 

 in contact with canals and rivers which take them to the ocean, and so up 

 the French rivers, without river dues. The French coals however can only 

 reach the coast or the great centres of c s umption by means of a difficult 

 and expensive navigation on rivers deficient in water, or by canals, burdened 

 with heavy dues. The coal owners therefore loudly call for the improvement 

 of the Loire, the Yonne and the .Seine, and complain of the dues on the Bur- 

 gundy canal. Lateral canal of the Loire, and the canals of Briare and Loing. 

 Tlie capital invested in collieries has increased much more than that in woods 

 because the demand for wood has been siationary, while many new sources 

 of coal consumption have been opened, particularly the manufacture of iron 

 by pit coal. As a proof of this the basins of St. Etienne and Reve deGier are 

 cited. Before the opening of the St. Etienne and Lyon Railway, a proposi- 

 tion was made to a leading capitalist in Paris, in 1831, to purchase the mines 

 of the whole basin, for the purpose of forming a consolidated company, the 

 purchase being estimated at £1,000,000, and this was thought too much. It 

 is now worth £2,600,000. The basins of the Saone and Loire, the Gard, SiC, 

 have advanced much more in value. 



Great improvements have taken place in the mode of working. Formerly 

 in the mines of the centre and south thick seams were left with pillars of 

 coal, taking up half the available coal. Better modes are now adopted, and 

 in the St. Etienne and Reve de Gier basins the roofs are almost universally 

 propped by rubbish from the mines or from the exterior. The effect of all 

 these measures has been considerably to reduce the price of French coal. 



The works of the Revi de Gier being threatened with inundation, no other 

 means of avoiding this evil remained than by a plan of joint drainage, and in 

 1836 a law was passed for this purpose, and now an engine of 400 h. p., on 

 the Coznish systtmis at vwk atReve de Gier, and whuhi he mtsi icwti- 



ful engine in France. The introduction of the C^ornish engine may indeed be 

 considered as being one of the important features in the progress of French 

 coal mining. The first engine put up in France on this system was built in 

 the old works at Chaillot, under the direction of Mr. Edwards, for the coal 

 mines of Breulle, in the north. Some of late years have been set up at Blanzy 

 (.Saone and Loire), in the Creuzot. and in the north. The Anzin Company 

 in the north carries on Us works on a very large scale. It has as it were 

 built the town of Denain, dug canals, made railways, and opened manufac- 

 tories. 



France besides coal possesses beds of lignite, the produce of which in 1841 

 was 180,000 tons, of which one-half from the superficial deposits of the 

 Bouches du Rhone. 



The quantity of peat turf extracted was 500,000 tons, employing a great 

 number of men, chiefly in the deiiartments of the Low Loire, Isere, Doubs, 

 Straits of Calais, Somme, .and Aisne. It is used in several important estab- 

 lishments, as sugar factories, distilleries, dyeworks, lighting steam engines, 

 lime and plaster kilns, forges, &c. 



Bitumen.— The asphalle mine of the Val Travers was begun to be wrought 

 in the reign of Lewis XIV., and of late years it has been resumed. The chief 

 mines now are those of Seyssel and Lobsann, both of which sent to the Ex- 

 position. The workings of asphalle at Pyrimont, canton of Seyssel in the Ain, 

 are of old date. Count de Sassenay had began their extension, but M. Coignet 

 had done the most. Specimens were also exhibited from Bastonnes, and Lam- 

 persloch in the Puy de Dome. Asphalteis being considerably used at Paris 

 for foot pavement, in preference to granite, on account of its cheapness, 

 Auvergne lava, moreover, not giving satisfaction. 



A new application of bitumen was exhibited by Messrs. Cbameroy and Co., 

 being pipes of thin sheet iron screwed together in zink and covered v\ilh a 

 thick coating of bituminous mastic. M. Legoux, of Bayeux, and Messrs. 

 Lasserre also exhibited pipes and stoves, with bitumen melted in. Messrs. 

 Dournay and Co. of Lobsann, make waterproof papers of bitumen. 



Metals. 



In the course of the last century great activity was shewn in this mining in 

 France, and the deposits of St. Marie aux Mines, Giromagny and Plancher 

 aux Mines, in the Vosges ; of Poullaouen and Pontpean in Brittany ; of the 

 mountains of I'Oi.sans in the Alp?, and the numberous veins of Auvergne and 

 the Cevennes, produced considerable supplies of topper, lead and silver ore. 

 New works were, however, imprudently carried on, and no provision being 

 made for drainage the mines have been successively abandoned. Thuse of 

 Vialas and Villcfort in the Lozere, of Poullaouen in Brittany, and Pont- 

 Gibaud in the Puy de Dome alone attest this former period of property. At 

 the present time France derives most of its copper from England and Russia, 

 lead from England and Spain, tin from England and India, and zinc from 

 Silesia and Belgium. Iron is the only metal which is worked on a consider- 

 able scale in France. 



Iron.— Iron works appear to be very ancient in France. Caesar, in the 

 account of the siege of Avaricum (Bouiges), particularly mentions the skill 

 with which the beseiged made subterraneous galleries to undermine the earth- 

 works ot the Romans, which facility he observes the inhabitants obtained 

 from their practice in the iron mines. Strabo, in particular, mentions the 

 existence of large iron works in Berry and Perigord. Under the old regime 

 iron mining was restricted, but increased under the empire, and the French 

 ironmasters had the exclusive monopoly of the supply. On the return of 

 peace, however, Sweden and England came into the market again, but their 

 produce was burthened with heavy protective duties. Of late years the 

 manufacture has considerably advanced. The following is the produce of pig 

 and bar iron, of late years, in tons 10 metrical quintals, or 1000 kilograms. 

 Pig, tons. Bar iron, tons. 



1825 198,500 143,500 



1830 266,300 148,400 



1835 294,700 209,500 



1840 347,700 237,300 



1841 377,100 263,700j 



The production has thus doubled in fifteen years. M. Burat reckons the 

 produce of iron as follows. 



Pig, tons. Refined iron, tons. 



England (1842) .. 1,210,000 



France (1841) .. .. 377,100 263,700 



Russia (average 1835-1838) 189,000 102,700 



Sweden (1839) .. .. 115,100 87,200 



Prussia .. .. 111,600 75,400 



The number of mines and iron works in France in 1841 was 2464. Theit 

 superficies is 250,000 acres, and they employ 12,000 men. They produce 

 2,300,000 tons of ore. This ore is reduced in 573 furnaces, of which 468 « ere 

 in work in 1841. Of these 573 furnaces 519 are worked with charcoal or 

 wood, 11 with charcoal and coal mixed, and 43 with coke only or mixed with 

 coal. Oi 377,100 tons of metal, 292,000 were produced by vegetable fuel, and 

 85,100 by mineral fuel. The production by coal in 1835 was only an eighth, 

 il is now about a fouith, 



