TEW: EXTENSION OE MINING OPEEATIONS. 
91 
narrowness of the bounds within Mdiich its incieasing- families are 
enclosed, and to the cheapness and abundance of the coal. 
According to Mr. Lupton, coal is workable at a depth of 5,000 
or 10,000 feet ;■; but the temperature of the earth at a depth of 
980 yards will be equal to blood heat, and if the miners have to 
penetrate another 500 yards " Mineral substances will be too hot 
'' for the naked skin to touch with impunity." Under such condi- 
tions science and mechanics will, I have no doubt, render the 
conditions of human labour at these depths quite possible ; and 
although it would appear that our new coal helds lie at great 
depths below the surface of the ground, I feel sure that whenever 
circumstances recjuire it, coal will be raised from greater depths 
than 5,000 or 10,000 feet, whilst new beds will be discovered as 
yet undreamed of. Therefore, in my humble opinion, many of the 
conclusions of the Koyal Commission were founded on insufficient 
data. 
We must, 1 think, throw off, further away than ever, the 
question of the exhaustion of the British Coal fields, and the 
prospect of national ruin. 
But if Leland could live again, and realise the dimensions of 
the industry his " Yearth Cole" has achieved from his day to 1882, 
he might feel inclined to write a new Itinery with reference to 
coal. 
On the 25th Feb., 1869, the Haigh Moor Bed of the Mere- 
held Colliery, at Glass Houghton, was struck at 347 yards 
from the surface of the ground, and the coal was found to be 4 
feet 7 inches in thickness, with one dirt parting of three inches in 
the middle of the seam. This Colliery is now in working order, 
and is capable of turning out upwards of 1,000 tons of coal in 
24 hours. 
At a depth of 280 yards from the surface, salt water, much 
Salter than that of the sea, is found; specific gravity 1*082 com- 
pared with fresh water : temperature 60 degrees of Fahrenheit's 
thermometer : four fluid ounces on evaporation leave a residue 
