BUCKMAN — SEARCH FOR COAL. 187 
now worked deeper and deeper, and will be as the price becomes higher. 
The section (1) may serve to illustrate, (1,2.3) where mining would be 
futile as being in beds below the coal ; (4.5) where mining is practicable, 
and likely to pay on account of moderate depth ; (c) where the matter is 
doubtful, as being beyond a present paying depth; and (r) where next 
to impossible, the mineral being beyond our reach. 
The physical circumstances attendant upon a mine —such as whether 
its beds are tolerably uniform or have been greatly shattered by faults 
or dislocations of any serious moment, whether liable to be " drowned 
out" by water, in which case facilities for getting this fluid away must 
be duly and carefully considered — these, and other matters of equal 
moment, in every coal-mining adventure, must be properly weighed. 
All these pre-determinations, however, will be materially affected by 
considerations of quality and quantity, points which can usually be 
ascertained only by absolute experiment. At the same time, the geologist 
should never conclude from a mere local examination, but regard with 
the utmost care and circumspection all the circumstances connected with 
the field of which the portion or locality under investigation forms a 
part ; as, by strict local inquiry, added to carefully-drawn generalisa- 
tions, we shall be able to perceive what exists at greater depths than 
can be attained by the miners' tools. 
I now proceed to the details connected with a coal investigation in 
America, as this course will tend to show that correct principles are 
universally practical, being equally a sure guide in a coal investigation 
3,000 miles distant, as in our own land. All the circumstances I 
have been previously discussing were not only of use theoretically but 
practically in my field-examination. It being a matter of importance 
to some gentlemen in England to ascertain whether a large tract of land 
in Western Virginia, U.S., really possessed the amount of valuable coal 
which had been stated, it fell to my lot to be dispatched to the 
locality to report fully upon the subject. After my arrival on the great 
American continent I made my way with dispatch to Pittsburg, which 
not only lay in the direction of my labours, but was itself situated in a 
large coal and iron mining district ; and indeed, from its mineral wealth, 
that city has not inaptly obtained the name of the " Birmingham of 
America." Here, having become satisfied that the whole geological 
structure was that of the true coal period, I took my passage in the 
steamer down the Ohio, a distance of nearly 400 miles, to Gruyandotte, 
K 2 
