FT CHAPTER XX. 



ECONOMICAL QUESTIONS. 



COAL. 



THE mineral substance most precious to mankind is so abun- 

 dantly exposed to observation in Britain, so well situated for 

 working, and so accessible to all parts of the empire by rail 

 and water, that for some hundreds of years no anxiety need be 

 felt as to the 'duration' of our coal-fields, though the best quality 

 of fuel may command increasing prices and come sooner to an end. 



Beyond the area of coal actually known by observation, a large 

 additional tract,, as yet unexplored, is confidently marked out 

 for future working, on the eastern border of the continuous field 

 of Yorkshire, Derbyshire, and Nottinghamshire; and inferences 

 more or less favourable of some possible extension apply to several 

 of the detached carboniferous tracts in the midland counties. These 

 inferences, gradually strengthened by limited experiments near 

 Birmingham, Nottingham, Nuneaton, and Charnwood Forest, have 

 been combined of late years with some remarkable purely geological 

 views, especially by Mr. Godwin Austen a and Mr. Hull b . To 

 the former we are indebted for a comprehensive survey of the 

 probable boundaries of the old coal growth, and the effect of 

 subterranean movements under the east and south of England, 

 invisible at the surface, but not undiscoverable by good reasoning ; 

 to the latter a well-considered inference, if not a positive con- 

 clusion, regarding the thickness under the same district of the 

 strata which usually overlie the coal. 



It is sometimes argued that geology has only recorded and 



a Geol. Soc. Proc. vol. xii. (1856). 



t> The Coal-fields of Great Britain. The second edition, 1861, contains a useful 

 map. 



