( 262 ) [April, 



PROGRESS IN SCIENCE. 



MINING. 



Considering the present exceptional state of the coal-market, it is by no 

 means surprising that public attention should eagerly fasten on the news of 

 any discoveiy of coal, or of kindred mineral, which may perchance afford a 

 seasonable supply of fuel. Unusual currency has, therefore, been given to 

 certain announcements respecting the recent discovery of coal in different 

 parts of the British Isles ; but most of these announcements refer to localities 

 where the existence of mineral fuel has long been known to the geologist, and 

 we must confess that at present there seems no likelihood of any really new 

 centres of coal-mining being established. 



Whitecliff Bay, at the eastern extremity of the Isle of Wight, is one of 

 these coal-bearing localities, to which attention has recently been directed. It 

 appears that the gales in the Channel have swept away much of the sand and 

 shingle which usually cover the shore of the bay, and have laid bare what has 

 been described as a seam of coal, from 6 to 7 feet in width, extending in a 

 straight line from the foot of the cliffs down to low-water mark. The tertiary 

 strata in Whitecliff Bay rest in an almost vertical position against the highly- 

 inclined chalk, and, striking directly across the island from east to west,, 

 reappear on the opposite side, in the well-known section in Alum Bay. Now 

 it happens that in Alum Bay beds of lignite have long been known to occur 

 in that division of the Middle Bagshot series known as the Bracklesham beds. 

 Prof. Ramsay and Mr. Bristow examined these beds in i860, and observed 

 that each seam was based upon a stratum of clay resembling the underclay of 

 the coal-measures. Some few years ago similar beds were detected by the 

 Geological Survey in Whitecliff Bay ; and the recent discovery resolves itself 

 into a fresh exposure of these Bracklesham coals. It is not, however, likely 

 that these seams will ever prove of any commercial value. 



Rumours are afloat of great discoveries of coal and cannel in Sutherland- 

 shire. Yet, as far as can be gathered from authentic sources, it seems that 

 these reputed discoveries refer merely to the coals and shales of the Middle 

 Oolites of Brora, well known to every geologist. No one denies that in. 

 certain parts of the world great deposits of Mesozoic coal are extensively and 

 profitably worked ; but, bearing in mind the very limited occurrence of such 

 coals in our own islands, it seems doubtful whether their commercial develop- 

 ment will ever be remunerative to the British capitalist. 



In Elginshire there are not wanting voices to advocate a search for coal, in 

 spite of the adverse geological conditions of the locality. It is true Mr. Judd's 

 admirable researches on Scottish Geology have recently placed beyond doubt 

 the fact that the celebrated Elgin sandstone must be referred to the New Red 

 and not to the Old Red sandstone — a conclusion to which Prof. Huxley's 

 study of its reptilian fossils had previously pointed. Nevertheless this con- 

 clusion does not in any way lend itself to the support of those views on the 

 probability of finding coal which have found expression in some of the Scotch 

 papers. For it is surely the height of geological folly to suppose that every 

 bit of New Red must needs have coal-measures beneath it ; and, indeed, the 

 highest geological authorities are of opinion that these measures were never 

 deposited within the area of the Elgin sandstone. We are glad to observe 

 that the "Athenasum" has called attention to the folly of this projected 

 enterprise, which has been so staunchly, yet unscientifically, supported by the 

 M Elgin Courant." 



Some valuable researches on the conditions under which safety-lamps are 

 truly safe have been conducted by Mr. R. Galloway, partly at the new 

 Laboratories at South Kensington, and partly at the Meteorological Office. 

 Mr. Galloway has already found that if a Davy lamp be burning tranquilly ira 



