AT THE CLOSE OF THK NIMKTEENTH CENTURY. J 7 



market, buc we shall all be most grateful to him if the result of 

 his address should be that the coal m^erchants should draw in their 

 horns. I do not know how that may be ; I am afraid we must 

 not be too expectant on this topic ; but I think we all welcome the 

 suggestion that coal purchased by foreigners of us should be very 

 highly taxed (hear, hear), so that we might expend the ten or 

 twelve millions so raised in the construction of weapons of 

 precision, to use against them if needed. Coal is at the root of 

 all manufactures, and when you consider the various manufactures 

 that go on in this country, I think you will come to the con- 

 clusion that they are all affected by the price of coal. People 

 say, "Why not substitute electricity? " But how are we to get 

 our electricity ? When you push the matter back, in order to 

 generate electricity you must have coal. 



One other thought has often struck me, and 1 should think 

 other people. It is sometimes said that we imagine too freely 

 that the earth and its contents Avere made for man and that all 

 things would be quite as useful, somehow, if there were no men. 

 But take the case of coal. There are many definitions of man ; 

 but I think we may add this — that man is a coal-consuming 

 animal ! I do not know that any other animal is ! I was born in 

 the black countiy of South Staffordshire, and have been down in 

 a coal mine many times. If you want to point to something that 

 lies near the surface of the earth, which ministers to the 

 necessities of man, and man alone, you will point to coal and you 

 would say, " Why is it that this coal exists ? How is it that we 

 have this storage of heat beneath the surface of the ground ? " 

 It is undoubtedly because He, who founded the earth and 

 established it, knew what would bo needed for the human race, 

 and so ordered that this coal should be provided against the time 

 when it was needed ; and so the heat that was stored up, untold ages 

 ago, is now given forth again from the combustion of coal for the 

 benefit of the age, for which, I think, we may thank the Creator. 



I have great pleasure in proposing a vote of thanks to 

 Professor Hull for his most valuable address. 



Professor Logan Lobley, F.G.S. — I have great pleasure in 

 seconding that. We all know that for a considerable time 

 Professor Hull has been of great service to the Institute, and has 

 brought before the Institute subjects of great importance and of 

 exceedingly great interest. He has written a number of papers 



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