110 ON THE EXPLOSIBILITT OP COAL OILS. 



an increasing population to a vast extent, whilst no compensating 

 supply is accumulating in new deposits or formations of fresh beds of 

 coal to replenish the decreasing stock. In anticipation of the exhaus- 

 tion of the coal mines of England, the question of restricting the 

 exportation of coal has heen debated in Parliament, and a recent 

 writer has published in the i London Quarterly Review ' an estimate, 

 limiting the supply to a period of about one thousand years, and 

 then, he observes, "recourse must be had to the vastly more exten- 

 sive coal fields of North America." In a sort of geological inventory 

 of the stock of coal on hand in the possession of some of the principal 

 nations of the earth, it appears that there are about 135,000 square 

 miles of area of coal fields in the United States, 18,000 square miles 

 in British North America, 12,000 in Great Britain, 3,500 in Spain, 

 and only 1,700 in France. The possession of abundant supplies of 

 coal and iron by races of men having the intelligence and vigour to 

 use them effectively, constitutes, at the present day, the basis of 

 natural greatness, as exhibited in the effects of the annual production 

 of seventy millions of tons of coal by Great Britain for the develop- 

 ment of manufactures, commerce, and physical comforts of the people. 



These facts impart to the present subject of inquiry exceedingly 

 interesting as well as instructive considerations connected with the 

 probable future supremacy in the useful arts and national power of 

 the people of different countries of this earth. The coal fields of this 

 western continent have only recently began to yield up their hidden 

 treasures of mineral coal and petroleum. Our country is still literally 

 "the new world." Provided with a tenfold greater supply of coal 

 and iron than Great Britain, and with far more than all the rest of 

 the continent of Europe besides, this physical power is destined to 

 be developed with a paramount influence on the affairs of men in 

 remote ages of futurity, after the present wilderness of North America 

 shall have been made to " blossom as the rose." Inspired with 

 glowing anticipations of the future destiny of America, resulting from 

 the possession of vast regions of fertile land and mineral treasures 

 hidden beneath its surface, Bishop Berkely inscribed his prophetic verse — 



"Westward the course of empire takes its way." 



The preceding experimental facts have been investigated for the 

 special purpose of showing that all these bountiful provisions, stored 

 up for the future well-being of man on earth may be safely used with 

 due care and forethought, without which even a draught of cold 

 water might prove a fatal beverage. The minuter details have also 

 been added, to dispel unfounded apprehensions of danger in the use of 

 coal oils properly distilled at establishments of known credit and 

 respectability, and to awaken caution where there is real cause for alarm, 

 that these gifts of a bountiful Creator may be rendered subservient to 

 human enjoyment and happiness. 



Providence, Rhode Island. 



