CHAPTEE III. 



COAL. 



Some time, long ago, some man made the 

 discovery that what we now call coal would 

 burn and produce light and warmth. Who he 

 was or how long ago he lived we do not know, 

 but as all earthly things have a beginning, we 

 know that such a man did live and that the 

 discovery that coal would burn was made. 

 Coal, in the sense that we use the word here, 

 is not mentioned in the Scriptures. Accord- 

 ing to some authorities, coal was used in Eng- 

 land as early as the ninth century. It is re- 

 corded that in 1259 King Henry III. granted 

 a privilege to certain parties to mine coal at 

 Newcastle. It is further stated that seven 

 years after this time coal became an article of 

 export. In 1306 coal was so generally used in 

 London that a petition was sent to parliament 

 to have the use of it suppressed on the 

 ground that it was a nuisance. Coal was 

 used in Belgium, however, about 1200. There 



