__ 
Aprit 18; 1884.] 
as 9,450,000 tons; while Mr. Lord, for the 
same year in Illinois, gives 9,115,653 tons. 
Coal is mined in forty-nine counties in Illinois ; 
and the number of mines is 639, employing 
nearly 24,000 men and a capital of $10,396,540. 
The production was 10,508,791 tons for 1883, 
valued at $15,310,521. This was an increase 
of 1,393,414 tons over the output of 1882. 
The average value per ton of the coal at the 
mines has been $1.46 for the past three years. 
There has been a marked decline since 1870, 
when it was $2.32. 
The report gives a statistical summary for 
the state; the complete statistics of each 
county arranged in alphabetical order; and a 
comparative table for 1882 and 1883, showing 
the number of men employed. the product in 
tons, and the average and aggregate values. 
There are also papers on ‘ Miners’ wages,’ 
and ‘Casualties in mines;’ and a detailed 
description of ‘the Diamond-mine disaster at 
Braidwood,’ with a diagram of the mine, is 
given. The subject of state legislation in the 
interest of the miners is considered, and statis- 
tical tables of the various inspection districts 
are presented, illustrated by a map showing 
their boundaries. These are followed by a 
list of the railroads in the state on the lines of 
which coal is found, with the names of the 
towns and stations on each where it is mined 
and shipped. 
The average wages received by the miners 
is stated to be ninety cents per ton. During 
the year, 365 casualties occurred, involving the 
loss of 154 lives. This was at the rate of one 
for every 78,424 tons of coal, or one man in 
every 146 employed under ground. The catas- 
trophes at Braidwood and Coultersville, in 
which 79 lives were lost, of course swells the 
list, and makes it exceptional; but, leaving 
them out, one life was lost for every 192,887 
’ tons of coal taken out, which is an excessive 
death-rate for mines as free from explosive 
gases as the mines of Illinois are. In the 
bituminous mining-region of Pennsylvania the 
average for 1882 was one death to every 277,- 
124 tons of coal mined; and in Great Britain 
the statistics for eight years, ending with 1880, 
show that for every 143,667 tons of coal taken 
out there was an average of one death. 
In the Illinois mines the larger number of 
the miscellaneous accidents are caused by the 
falling of the roof, against which, as the report 
says, the miners are usually able to protect 
themselves. Familiarity with the danger, how- 
ever, leads them.in many cases to neglect the 
setting of props. Twelve of the 365 accidents 
were clue to gases. 
SCIENCE. 
491 
The report concludes with an enumeration 
of the state mining-laws. 
Although residents of Illinois will be espe- 
cially interested in this report, there is a great 
deal of material in it that is of general interest 
and practical value. 
CARPENTER’S ENERGY IN NATURE. 
Energy in nature: six lectures upon the forces of 
nature and their mutual relations. By W. L. 
CARPENTER. London, Cassell, 1883. 15+212 
p-;:alllmistr..)) 12°. 
WHEN a man has been driving a butcher- 
wagon, or throwing trunks, or wading about 
in the cold and wet all day, and has no attrac- 
tive fireside to retreat to in the evening, it 
must be comforting to find a well-warmed and 
brightly lighted hall standing open, with a plat- 
form at one end loaded with bright apparatus, 
and curiously colored diagrams on the walls. 
The weary man walks in and takes his seat 
among a crowd of equally curious men, or 
only equatly weary if habitués, and after rub- 
bing his hands, and smoothing his hat across 
his knees, gives a few furtive glances at the 
lecture-table, and awaits events. 
Over the uppermost diagram there is posted 
in the boldest letters, ‘ Knergy in nature.’ 
Our tired friend has a flickering thought that 
it might be well if there were no energy in 
nature. With Nature he was acquainted when 
a boy, possibly, and has a certain system of 
philosophy in regard to her workings. He 
once saw a man who could discover springs of 
good water by means of an apple-twig. He has 
leaned his head against telegraph-poles to hear 
the despatches, or has watched for them as they 
passed on the wire. He has always been taught 
that each ‘ new moon’ is a new moon, and, to 
the best of man’s knowledge, made of some 
common substance necessarily. He is not 
aware that any of these cherished notions are 
to be jarred this evening ; and, thanks to sooth- 
ing sleep, they may not be. 
The lecturer appears, — a man well acquaint- 
ed with the mechanical theory of heat, the 
kinetic theory of gases, the peculiarities of a 
magnetic field, and the working of an indue- 
tion-balance, brilliant results of the labor of 
man,—and has come this evening to flash 
these jewels before the eyes of his motley 
audience, 
The lecturer begins; and the listeners catch 
‘electricity,’ ‘heat,’ ‘sand,’ ‘wood.’ Two 
close their eyes and nod (the ‘ regulars’ have 
already closed their eyes and nodded). ‘ En- 
ergy is the power of doing work,’ the lecturer 
