PROCEEDINGS 1849 — 1858. 
275 
deposit obtaiued. In the Xortli Riding, in the Eston and Sutton 
districts, 1,414,155 tons were brought to the surface, as against 
1,197,417 tons in 1856. Of the argillaceous iron ores of the West 
Riding it has not been possible to obtain an e(xually reliable return 
to the above. The total quantity of clay iron ore raised in the West 
Riding, as far as returns have been obtained, was 247,500 tons. 
The number of furnaces in the Cleveland district w^hich were in 
blast in 1857 were 23 ; in the West Riding there were 25. The 
cold-blast furnaces of the West Riding appear to have produced 
63,000 tons of pig-iron. The total produce of the West Riding is 
estimated at 117,000, and of the Xoi-th Riding 179,838 tons; an 
increase of 21,000 tons on the previous year. The exportation of 
pig-iron from Middlesborough in 1857 was nearly four times as much 
as in 1855. In the neighbourhood of Halifax, Todmorden, and 
Huddersfield, 3,560 tons of iron pyrites were raised, valued at ^1,572, 
for the manufacture of sidphuric acid and copperas. The production 
of coal from 374 collieries existing in the West Riding was 8,875,440 
tons. Of this amount, 41,927 tons were sent to London. In 
addition to these mineral returns, replies had been obtained from 
102 quarries in Yorkshire producing building and paving stones, lime, 
grindstones, and whetstones. Through these. Professor Hunt had 
been enabled to estimate the \'alue of the stone raised in Yorkshire 
during 1857, as being £105,374. The total value of all the minerals 
raised was £3,462,198. 
In October, 1850, a valuable paper was read by Mr. W. L. 
Simpson, C.E., of Thuruscoe Hall, Doncaster, on the nature, value, 
and application of fuel. The paper treats on the nature of wood, 
peat, peat-charcoal and coal, and their value as fuel. The most 
valuable part of the paper is perhaps that in which he speaks of the 
products resulting from the destructive distillation of coal, namely : 
coke, tar, ammonia, the hydro-carbons and carbonic acid. He 
suggests that the coke is of greater value than the coal itself, and 
can be used in manufactories without the emission of the dense 
smoke which was so fatal to the health and comfort of large towns. 
The volatile combustible substances may at the same time be obtained 
by an enlarged system of gas manufacture, and extensively employed 
