Coal-fields Their Extent Gas. 147 



cashire, in England, cannel coal (that is, 

 candle or can'le coal), will burn like pine wood. 

 If you take a splinter of it and hold it in the 

 flame of a candle, it will take fire and continue 

 to burn, giving out a light like a candle. This 

 kind of coal can also be turned in the turning- 

 lathe as wood is turned, and sornetimes snuff- 

 boxes are made from it. 



9. The gas we burn in our houses is made 

 from coal, which, therefore, not only warms us 

 in winter, but cooks our supper and gives us 

 light to eat it by. 



10. Many millions of tons of coal are pro- 

 duced every year. Our steamboats, ocean 

 steamers, locomotives, and steam-engines use 

 up many tons of this black fuel. 



11. Coal has been in use in England for nearly six hun- 

 dred years. In the reign of Edward I. (1272-1307) the 

 use of coal was forbidden because its smoke was said to be 

 injurious to health. 



12. In this country what are called coal-fields 

 have an extent of about 300,000 square miles. 

 You must not imagine, however, that all this 

 country looks black with coal. On the contrary, 

 very little of it crops out on the surface, and you 

 may have a very fine farm with all its trees and 

 crops spread out over a valuable coal-mine, so 

 that they may both be worked without inter- 

 fering with one another. 



