148 
NATURE 
[DECEMBER 17, 1896 
the questions suggested by a study of the literature here 
abstracted without due reference to the work accom- 
plished by the zoologists in the same field. But, in his 
preface, he has expressly signified his intention of con- 
fining himself in the main to the phenomena exhibited 
by plants ; and so, however much we may regret the 
results of this self-denial, we cannot but admit that the 
author has acted wisely in refraining from drawing 
general conclusions which must have been one-sided, 
and proportionally futile. As it is, although we cannot 
exactly say his book is very readable, it is at any rate a 
useful one, and should be certain of receiving a favour- 
able reception at the hands of those whose business or 
pleasure impels them to keep abreast with current 
investigations in this department of science. 
Je BR. 
COLLIERY MANAGEMENT. 
Colliery Working and Management. By H. F. Bulman 
and R. A. S. Redmayne. Pp. xvi + 330. (London : 
Crosby Lockwood and Son, 1896.) 
HREE hundred and forty years ago the learned 
German writer Agricola, enumerated, in the first 
book of his treatise, De ve metallica, the various 
branches of knowledge that ought to be acquired by a 
mine manager. First he should be familiar with 
chemistry, geology, mineralogy and other branches of 
philosophy ; secondly with medicine, that he may cope 
with the diseases and accidents to which miners are 
liable ; thirdly with astronomy, that he may carry out 
scientific surveys ; fourthly with geometry, that he may 
prepare underground plans and sections; next with 
arithmetic, that he may keep account of the mining 
costs; then with engineering, that he may construct 
machinery and buildings; also with drawing and 
colouring, that he may execute designs ; and lastly with 
mining law, that he may avoid difficulties with others, and 
prevent his neighbours from taking advantage of him. 
Much more difficult are the problems with which the 
colliery managers of to-day have to deal. They have to 
extract coal from great depths, and to labour under 
stringent legislative enactments. In short, in the words 
of Mr. T. Forster Brown, the ideal colliery manager 
ought to be a scientific philosopher with a thoroughly 
practical knowledge of mining, of men, and of applied 
mechanics. The successful execution of the duties of a 
colliery manager implies the getting of the largest 
possible proportion of the workable coal in the best 
condition at the lowest possible cost, and with the 
greatest degree of safety to the miners. It is remarkable, 
therefore, that the methods of working the coal, and the 
arrangement and supervision of the labour employed, 
have received but slight consideration in the literature of 
coal-mining. This is due to the fact that Mr. H. W. 
Hughes’ recently published text-book of coal-mining and 
the older treatises on the subject deal rather with mine 
engineering than with colliery working; and owing to 
the vast amount of matter to be dealt with, subjects 
relating to labour, wages, cost of working and systems of 
getting the coal, have to be crowded into one or two 
chapters. Mr. Bulman and Mr. Redmayne, who are 
both experienced colliery managers of great literary 
NO. 1416, VOL. 55 | 
ability, are therefore to be congratulated on having 
supplied an authoritative work dealing with a side of 
the subject which has hitherto received but scant 
treatment. 
The authors break up their book into fourteen chapters 
In the first three chapters they deal historically with the 
progress achieved during the last few centuries in the 
methods of working coal, in working costs, and in con- 
ditions of labour. In the succeeding five chapters they 
describe the duties and qualifications of a colliery 
manager and of the various grades of subordinate 
officials, the superintendence of labour, the arrangement 
of labour and the system of wages, wages bills and cost- 
sheets, and the tools and appliances used by the work- 
men. In the concluding six chapters they discuss in 
practical detail the different systems of working coal, 
namely the bord and pillar, the longwall, and the 
double and single stall methods, and the modifications 
requisite for working two seams near together. Lastly 
in an appendix covering seventy-five pages, they give the 
text of various documents illustrating the past history or 
the present condition of coal-mining, including a state- 
ment of the comparative cost of working bord and pillar 
and longwall, the official abstract of the Coal Mines 
Regulation Act 1887, the special rules established under 
that Act, pitmen’s yearly bonds in 1767, 1779 and 1859, 
forms of hiring agreements, forms of rules regarding the 
drawing of lots to determine working places, joint- 
committee rules, and the text of the Coal Mines 
Regulation Act 1896, and of the Truck Act 1896. The 
volume concludes with a glossary of mining terms and 
an excellent index. 
From this summary of the contents, it will be seen 
that the arrangement of the matter has been well thought 
out, and that the volume is an addition of permanent 
value to mining literature. The book is, however, open 
to one grave objection. It is too local in character ; 
almost all the examples being selected from Northumber- 
land and Durham, the district with which the authors 
are most famillar. Even when they describe the 
longwall method of working, they choose their instances 
from the North of England coalfield. The longwalt 
system of that coalfield, however, differs considerably from 
that of the Midlands, where the method originated, and 
where it is carried out to perfection. This difference is 
due to the fact that the conditions of labour are not the 
same in the two coalfields. In the North, each man 
works for himself ; whilst in the Midlands sets of men 
work together, the result being that in the former district 
longwall consists of short faces or stalls, whilst in the 
latter the stalls are from thirty to fifty yards long, and 
continuous instead of being a series of broken steps. In 
fact, longwall in the North can rarely be regarded as 
longwall proper, but would be better described as a 
longwall modification of the bord and pillar method. 
The local character of the work is also apparent in 
the technical terms employed. The pages are freely 
sprinkled with such words as cavzls, .cracket, dillies, 
jenkin, keeker, kist, ramble, stook, wailing, &c. Outside 
| the North of England coalfield these terms are not 
understood, and constant reference to the glossary is 
absolutely necessary. This indiscriminate use of local 
slang is greatly to be regretted as tending to limit the 
