5607 "The progressive state is in reality the cheerful and the hearty state to all the different orders of the society; the stationary is dull; the declining melancholy." ADAM SMITH. INTRODUCTION. DAY by day it becomes more obvious that the Coal we happily possess in excellent quality and abundance is the Mainspring of Modern Material Civilization. As Fuel-or the source of fire-it is the source at once of mechanical motion and of chemical change. Accordingly it is the chief agent in almost every improvement or discovery in the arts which the present age brings forth. It is to us indispensable for domestic purposes, and it has of late years been found to yield a series of organic substances, which puzzle us by their complexity, please us by their beautiful colours, and serve us by their various utility. And as the source especially of Steam and Iron, Coal is all-powerful. This age has been called the Iron Age, and it is true that iron is the material of most great novelties. By its strength, endurance, and wide range of qualities, it is fitted to be the fulcrum and lever of great works, while steam is the motive power. But coal alone can command in sufficient abundance either the iron or the steam; and coal, therefore, commands this age-the Age of Coal. Coal, in truth, stands not beside but entirely above all other commodities. It is the material energy of the country-the universal aid - the factor in everything we do. With coal almost any feat is possible or easy; without it we are thrown back into the laborious poverty of early times. With such facts familiarly before us, it can be no matter of surprise that year by year we make larger draughts upon a material of such myriad qualities of such miraculous powers. But it is at the same time impossible that men of foresight should not turn to compare with some anxiety the masses yearly drawn with the quantities known or supposed to lie within these islands. Geologists of eminence, acquainted with the contents of our strata, and accustomed in the study of their great science to look over long periods of time with judgment and enlightenment, were long ago painfully struck by the essentially limited nature of our 'main wealth. And though others have been found to reassure the public, roundly asserting that all anticipations of exhaustion are groundless and absurd, and "may be deferred for |