152 The Coal Famine. [April, 



beyond bounds, and required some sharp remedy in order to 

 work a cure. The only branch of industry where the con- 

 sumption of coal has been reduced nearly to a minimum is 

 in iron-smelting, and this only in some special districts, such 

 as those of Middlesborough, North Lancashire, and parts of 

 Scotland. What can be done by improvements in the way 

 of economy is curiously illustrated by the history of iron- 

 smelting. At the Clyde iron-works, in 1796, according to 

 the account of Mr. Mushet, no less than g% tons of coal 

 were consumed in producing 1 ton of pig-iron. The quan- 

 tity of coal now consumed has been reduced to 1 ton 

 14^ cwts. with the hot blast, or 2 tons 3 qrs. of coke. In 

 the Middlesborough district, where the expenditure of fuel 

 has been reduced to a minimum, the quantity of coke and 

 coal combined amounts to 33 cwts. 1 qr. to the ton of pig- 

 iron. In this district the hot air and gases escaping from 

 the throat of the furnace are used for calcining the ore, 

 heating the blast, and generating the steam for driving the 

 blowing-engine. 



In steam navigation a much-needed saving is being 

 rapidly effected by the introduction of double cylinders ; the 

 first working at high-pressure, the second using the steam 

 over again in conjunction with a condenser. This system 

 has been in use in France for the last twenty years (as I am 

 assured by Prof. O'Reilly), and is now used in all the ocean 

 steamers of modern construction. The saving of fuel may 

 be taken at not less than 25 per cent, and to this advantage 

 there is to be added the important one of additional storage 

 room for goods. 



The greatest amount of waste lies in household consump- 

 tion. The British public seems inveterately wedded to large 

 blazing fires, so constructed as to send three-fourths of the 

 heat up the chimney. Until we overcome our prejudices in 

 favour of the present form of fire-grate, no large amount of 

 saving can be effected ; but, unquestionably, some modifica- 

 tion combining the heating surfaces of the stove with the 

 cheerfulness and ventilation which are the chief advantages 

 of the present form of open fire-grate would be the means 

 of effecting a large amount of saving in house-fuel. Mr. 

 R. Hunt — our best authority on this subject — considers that 

 the amount of coal consumed for domestic use may be taken 

 at 1 ton per head of the population, and that about one-third 

 of the whole quantity raised is thus consumed, — that is, 

 about 37,000,000 tons. It is probable that the general sub- 

 stitution of stoves, or of such a combination of a stove and 

 grate as above recommended, would result in saving 



