to bo tilled up l»y deposits. Ami ns similar operations in 
Nature have in all probability boon progressing during ages 
of the antiquity of our globe, coal, could wo but roach to, 
and work it, without Hooding, may bo in store in these 
depressions, in consecutive layers, to the depth of Ihimmiuk 
of feet. Wo havo scon that in English coal mines it is 
worked to the depth, of nearly halba-iuile. When apparently 
worked out at one level, it may, on physical principles, 
reasonably lie prospected for at a lower one, and practically 
there is no limit., but. by flooding, or difficulties as to venti- 
lation, to joining operations being executed by men and 
horses, to any depths man's energies can reach. 
Whenever gold-bearing formations, or qiiartZ roofs, have 
been noted, adjacent to depressions, characteristic of Cornier 
excavation by water, though not now stream -channels, 
auriferous gutters may be confidently searched for by boring, 
as the heavier portion of the disintegrated debris of such 
formations remains in the ancient channels, stored up as it 
were, until broached by the minor's pick or boring tools. 
Mr. W. Mather, of Manchester, appears to havo invented a 
boring apparatus of great utility, described as " ingenious 
in its simplicity, and very effective, and much more expedi- 
tious than the former practice of using iron rods, the weight 
of which, at great depths, becomes enormous. A steam- 
engine, a fiat hemp rope, a few boring tools, lifts, and 
grapnels of various forms, constitute tin; working apparatus. 
A hole is bored in the ground in the usual way, then the 
boring tool, attached to the end (it the rope, is lot down, anil 
made to give a succession of blows on the bottom, being 
turned slightly round at every stroke. In this way the 
bottom, whether clay, gravel, chalk, schist or rock of any 
kind, is broken and penetrated ; the tool is wound swiftly 
up, the lifting bucket is hooked on, and speedily brings up 
the lessened material." My this apparatus, bores of 18 to 
24 inches diameter have boon executed to depths of many 
hundred feet, sinking "through chalk and flints, at the rate 
of one foot eleven inches per day. The number of men 
employed, including a smith, to sharpen the cutters, never 
exceeded six."* This apparatus might accomplish, cheaply, 
all the purposes of the diamond-faced bores brought under 
the notice of the Government by Mi-. Woods, M.P. 
The lato revered Dr. Chalmers remarked that the philo- 
sopher, "the groat Sir Isaac Newton, the highest man in the 
accomplishments of philosophy which the world ever saw, sat 
* Chambers's Jourual of May 2d, 1870. 
