ago Professor Prestwick explained bis reasons for believing tbat 

 coal existed at no very great depth, in tbe south east of England, 

 thus linking the coalfields of Somerset with those of Belgium and 

 France, and establishing the geological fact of the subterranean 

 connection of the Meudips with tho Ardennes. Whether the coal 

 in Kent is sufficiently valuable in kind or abundant in quantity to 

 pay for the working, has not yet been fully ascertained 



The various and great industries in connection with petroleum 

 are remarkable for having been entirely developed during the last 

 thirty years. It was not till 1859 that the first petroleum well was 

 drilled in America, and in that year five thousand barrels were pro- 

 duced ; last year the yield was twenty-one million five hundred 

 thousand barrels ! In Russia, where crude petroleum is largely 

 used as fuel for locomotives, many million gallons are used ia 

 working the railway traffic on the Caspian Sea ; in Russia alone, 

 three million tons of petroleimi are produced yearly, In America 

 the natural f>as furnished by the oil fields is extensively used, and 

 in Pittsburg three hundred and thirty-five miles of pipes have been 

 laid down, through which this natural gas is supplied, and which 

 equals in heating power three million six hundred and fifty tons of 

 coal. The effect of this change from coal gas to natural gas on 

 the purity of the atmosphere is most marked. Water gas, in com- 

 bination with a certain proportion of a very luminous coal gas, is 

 now extensively used in New York, Philadelphia, and other large 

 towns in America, and is found to be far purer and better, both for 

 illuminating and heaiirg purposes, than the ordinary coal gas. 



An interesting discussion has been going on in the French Academy 

 of Science, as to the nature of tlie diamond, M. Daubree asserting 

 that it is not of vegetable origin, but of inorganic nature, like 

 graphite, which is found in South Africa in the same rocks as the 

 diamond. The presence of the diamond as carbonado (as well as 

 transformed into graphite) in fragments of meteorites, lends great 

 weight to this assertion. A curious chemical achievement has just 

 been accomplished by Mr. Greville Williams, of manufacturing a 

 perfect emerald from the refuse of a gas retort. The cost, however, 

 of producing it is ten times as great as if it were bought at a 

 jewellers. In 1837 M. Gaudin produced real rubies by artificial 

 means, and some ten years ago Mr, Hannay, of Glasgow, succeeded 

 in manufacturing genuine diamonds, but in all these cases the cost 

 has been prohibitive, and the processes, though of great scientific 

 interest, are of no commercial value. It is for this same reason, i.e. 

 the cost of production, that Saccharin is commercially valueless, 

 although it is two hundred times as sweet as sugar. 



It would really almost seem as though one of the functions of 

 science is to make us unlearn all that we learned in our youth 



