632 BEPORT— 1891. 



the result of scientific induction, and arrived at by following tlie line of research first 

 indicated, I believe, by the late Mr. Godwin-Austen and subsequently by Professor 

 Prestwich.' The boring was undertaken with the advice of Professor W. Boyd 

 Dawkins ; ' and wo learn, from his latest Report,'- that the Coal-measures were 

 reached at 1,113 feet below high-water mark, and were penetrated to 1,500 feet; 

 also that in the 387 feet of Coal-measures six seams were met with, givino- an 

 aggregate of 10 feet of coal. The distance of the Coal-measures below high-water 

 mark is a near approximation to Professor Prestwich's computation of the probable 

 depth at which coal might be found in that part of Kent, namely, 1,000 to 1,100 

 feet.' The account of the coal-plants or other fossils from these "beds has not yet 

 been published. 



11. Conclusion. — The formation and subsequent arrangement of coal and the 

 Coal-measures have been so ordered that the blessings of civilisation have been 

 largely enjoyed wherever the fossil fuel at man's feet has been industriously 

 worked by his hands, and carefully applied to the improvement of his social 

 being. These labours of careful perseverance, and arts of skilful manipulation, 

 have given special characters to those whose energies have been directed to coal- 

 mining and various manufacturing enterprises ; and all conditions of society have 

 been influenced thereby. 



So also the geologist, chemist, and botanist, seeking out the composition of the 

 various coals, their local position and extent, their special natural history, the 

 mode of passage from dead plants to first-rate fuel — in fact, aiming at a complete 

 mastery over all the mazy events and complicated results of the coal-formation — 

 not only find a useful exercise of their cultivated intelligence and accumulated 

 knowledge, benefiting all by the practical results, but they widen the mental 

 culture of others, and sliow how the study of nature is an indispensable element 

 in good education, and necessarily productive of lasting benefit to society at large. 



Light, heat, motion, fragrance, and colour ai-e all now obtainable from coal. 

 What more coidd the sun himself do for us ? It is as if the sunshine that 

 cherished the luxuriant jungles of the past had been preserved in the coaly mass of 

 the buried trees. Indeed, the light and heat of former days, expended in thus con- 

 verting carbonic acid and water into coal, are here stored up for man. By 

 converting coal into carbonic acid and water he can again evolve tliat heat and 

 light, and use them in a thousand ways beneficial to his race — nay, essential to his 

 i-ery existence as a civilised being. (J. W. Salter and others.) 



Nevertheless, a great deal has yet to be learnt about the natural history of 

 the Coal-measures, the order and extent of the special kinds of their animals and 

 plants, the time occupied in formation, and the geographical and hydrographical 

 conditions. At all events, we know that all their strata have been arranged in 

 order, have been buried under circumstances favourable to production of the 

 various coaly fuels, and then turned up in orderly disorder, ready to the hand of 

 man, and well adapted for his use in this passage-stage of his civilisation and 

 development, helping him, when intelligent, active, careful, and persevering, to 

 higher ends. For we cannot doubt that all things here are arranged for his 

 better being, his progress towards more and more useful ai-ts, wider ranges of 

 science, and fitter aptitudes of life, of which as yet we have but little conception. 

 We are still the early settlers in a beautiful world, whose capabilities, imperfectly 

 known as yet, wait until higher developments of man can understand them fully, 

 and apply the results to the general good. 



' See also Contemjwrary Berie/v, April 1890 ; and his Lecture to tlie Royal Insti- 

 tution, Jiine 6, 1890. 



^ Rei)ort of Proceed. General Meeting of the South Eastern Railway Company, 

 July 23, 1891, p. 10 ; and Financial News, July 24, 1891. 



^ Froceed. Instit. Civil Engineers, vol. xxxvii., 1874, pp. 16 and 26 of the separate 

 paper. 



