have been the periods, at which these materials of future beneficial dispensations were laid up in store, we may fairly assume, that, besides the immediate purposes effected at, or before the time

The destruction of Coals on the fiery heaps near Newcastle, although diminished, still goes on, however, to a frightful extent, that ought not to be permitted; since the inevitable consequence of this practice, if allowed to continue, must be, in no long space of time, to consume all the beds nearest to the surface, and readiest of access to the coast; and thus enhance the price of Coal in those parts of England which depend upon the Coalfield of Newcastle for their supply; and finally to exhaust this Coal-field, at a period, nearer by at least one third, than that to which it would last, if wisely economized. (See Report of the Select Committee of the House of Commons, on the state of the Coal Trade, 1830, page 242. and Bakewell's Introduction to Geology, 1833, page 183 and 543.)

We are all fully aware of the impolicy of needless legislative interference; but a broad line has been drawn by nature between commodities annually or periodically reproduced by the Soil on its surface, and that subterranean treasure, and sustaining foundation of Industry, which is laid by Nature in strata of mineral Coal, whose amount is limited, and which, when once exhausted, is gone for ever. As the Law most justly interferes to prevent the wanton destruction of life and property, it should seem also to be its duty to prevent all needless waste of mineral fuel; since the exhaustion of this fuel would irrecoverably paralyze the industry of millions. The Tenant of the soil may neglect, or cultivate his lands, and dispose of his produce, as caprice or interest may dictate; the surface of his fields is not consumed, but remains susceptible of tillage by his successor; had he the physical power to annihilate the Land, and thereby inflict an irremediable injury upon posterity, the legislature would justly interfere to prevent such destruction of the future resources of the nation. This highly favoured Country, has been enriched with mineral treasures in her strata of Coal, incomparably more precious than

of their deposition in the strata of the Earth, an ulterior prospective view to the future uses of Man, formed part of the design, with which they were, ages ago, disposed in a manner so admirably adapted to the benefit of the Human Race.

mines of silver or of gold. From these sustaining sources of industry and wealth let us help ourselves abundantly, and liberally enjoy these precious gifts of the Creator; but let us not abuse them, or by wilful neglect and wanton waste, destroy the foundations of the Industry of future Generations.

Might not an easy remedy for this evil be found in a Legislative enactment, that all Coals from the Ports of Northumberland and Durham, should be shipped in the state in which they come from the Pit, and forbidding by high penalties the screening of any Sea-borne Coals before they leave the Port at which they are embarked. A Law of this kind would at once terminate that ruinous competition among the Coal owners, which has urged them to vie with each other in the wasteful destruction of small Coal, in order to increase the Profits of the Coal Merchants, and gratify the preference for large Coals on the part of rich consumers; and would also afford the Public a supply of Coals of every price and quality, which the use of the screen would enable him to accommodate to the demands of the various Classes of the Community.

A farther consideration of national Policy should prompt us to consider, how far the duty of supporting our commercial interests, and of husbanding the resources of posterity should permit us to allow any extensive exportation of Coal, from a densely peopled manufacturing country like our own; a large proportion of whose present wealth is founded on machinery, which can be kept in action only by the produce of our native Coal Mines, and whose prosperity can never survive the period of their exhaustion.

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CHAPTER XX

Proofs of Design in the Effects of Disturbing Forces on the Strata of the Earth.

IN the proofs of the agency of a wise, and powerful, and benevolent Creator, which we have derived from the Animal and Vegetable kingdoms, the evidence has rested chiefly on the prevalence of Adaptations and Contrivances, and of Mechanisms adapted to the production of certain ends, throughout the organic remains of a former world.

An argument of another kind may be founded on the Order, Symmetry, and Constancy, of the Crystalline forms of the unorganized Mineral ingredients of the Earth. But in considering the great geological phenomena which appear in the disposition of the strata, and their various accidents, a third kind of evidence arises from conditions of the earth, which are the result of disturbing forces, that appear to a certain degree to have acted at random and fortuitously.

Elevations and subsidences, inclinations and contortions, fractures and dislocations, are phenomena, which, although at first sight they present only the appearance of disorder and con

fusion, yet when fully understood, demonstrate the existence of Order, and Method, and Design, even in the operations of the most turbulent, among the many mighty physical forces which have affected the terraqueous globe.

Some of the most important results of the action of these forces have been already noticed in

"Notwithstanding the appearances of irregularity and confusion in the formation of the crust of our globe, which are presented to the eye in the contemplation of its external features, Geologists have been able in numerous instances to detect, in the arrangement and position of its stratified masses, distinct approximations to geometrical laws. In the phenomena of anticlinal lines, faults, fissures, mineral veins, &c. such laws are easily recognized." Hopkin's Researches in Physical Geology. Trans. Cambridge Phil. Soc. v. 6. part 1. 1835.

"It scarcely admits of a doubt," says the author of an able article in the Quarterly Review, (Sept. 1826, p. 537,) “ that the agents employed in effecting this most perfect and systematic arrangement have been earthquakes, operating with different degrees of violence, and at various intervals of time, during a lapse of ages. The order that now reigns has resulted therefore, from causes which have generally been considered as capable only of defacing and devastating the earth's surface, but which we thus find strong grounds for suspecting were, in the primeval state of the globe, and perhaps still are, instrumental in its perpetual renovation. The effects of these subterranean forces prove that they are governed by general laws, and that these laws have been conceived by consummate wisdom and forethought."

"Sources of apparent derangement in the system appear, when their operation throughout a series of ages is brought into one view, to have produced a great preponderance of good, and to be governed by fixed general laws, conducive, perhaps essential, to the habitable state of the globe." Ibid. p. 539.

our fourth and fifth chapters; and our first Section, Pl. 1, illustrates their beneficial effect, in elevating and converting into habitable Lands, strata of various kinds that were formed at the bottom of the ancient Waters; and in diversifying the surface of these lands with Mountains, Plains, and Valleys, of various productive qualities, and variously adapted to the habitation of Man, and the inferior tribes of terrestrial animals.

In our last Chapter we considered the advantages of the disposition of the Carboniferous strata in the form of Basins. It remains to examine the further advantages that arise from other disturbances of these strata by Faults or Fractures, which are of great importance in facilitating the operations of Coal mines; and to extend our inquiry into the more general effect of similar Dislocations of other strata, in producing convenient receptacles for many valuable Metallic ores, and in regulating the supplies of Water from the interior of the earth, through the medium of Springs.

I have elsewhere observed that the occurrence of Faults, and the Inclined position in which the strata composing the Coal measures are usually laid out, are facts of the highest importance, as connected with the accessibility of their mineral contents. From their inclined

* Inaugural Lecture, Oxford, 1819.