2 
It has been very generally admitted that coal will not 
cease to be furnished because of the exhaustion of the stores 
of the mineral now existing in the coal measures ; and fur- 
ther, that the obstacles to the continued working of the 
mines will not be engineering difficulties. The increased 
depth from which the coal will have to be brought may add 
to the cost, but at that increased cost it will still be for a long 
time obtainable. The author considered the real insur- 
mountable obstacle to be the high temperature of the lower 
portions of the carboniferous strata. That temperature had 
been shown to be at a depth of 4,000 feet at least 120° Fahr., 
a degree of heat in which human beings cannot exist for any 
length of time, much less use any exertion. It had occurred 
to the author to inquire whether the very agency which will 
prevent the continued supply of fossil fuel might not be made 
the means of rendering that supply unnecessary — whether, 
in short, the internal heat of the earth might not to some 
extent be utilised. One or two modes of doing this had pre- 
sented themselves to his mind. One of these might, he con- 
ceived, be the direct production of steam power by bringing 
a supply of water from the surface in contact with the heated 
strata by means of artesian borings or otherwise. 
Mr. W. L. Dickinson read the following note on the 
eclipse of the sun which will take place on the 19th instant : 
Calculation for Manchester (Royal Infirmary), Lat. N. 
53° 29', Long. W. 2° 14'. 
At Manchester a partial eclipse is partly visible, and 
h. m. s. 
Begins October 19th — 4 8 12 
Greatest phase ...October 19th — 5 4 2 
Greenwich mean time. 
At Manchester the sun will set at 5h. 2m. Greenwich 
mean time. 
