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Page 5
The coal having been brought to the pit-mouth, it remains to be shown
what becomes of this most valuable mineral, the consumption of which is
now so large in all parts of the globe. The next person employed in the
trade is the sailor, to convey it to the market, and the collier vessels
are a valuable navy to the country, proving quite a nursery of seamen
for our royal marine service. Newcastle, Sunderland, West Hartlepool,
and a large number of other ports along our coast, have an immense
amount of shipping employed exclusively in the coal trade--no less than
5359 vessels carrying coal having entered the port of London alone in
1873, and the average annual quantity of coal exported abroad during the
three years ending 1872 was 12,000,000 tons.
I will not now detain you longer on the subject of the extent and
working of coal, lest I should tire your patience; but before concluding
I should wish to give some account of the uses to which this most
valuable product is applied. The main use of coal, as we all know, is to
produce heat, without which many a paterfamilias would grumble when the
dinner-hour came and he had nothing hot to eat. It not only, however,
supplies heat, but the beauty of the processes for lighting up our
houses is now mainly derived from coal. The immense consumption of coal,
among other things, is in the production of the vapour of water--steam,
by which our thousands of engines on sea and land are made to perform
their various appointed tasks. This production, formed of decayed
vegetable matter, which in ages past nourished on the surface of the
earth, as I have already shown, is again brought forth for our use, and
is a testimony of the goodness and kindness of God in providing for our
wants. By its heat some 10,000 locomotive engines are propelled, and
many hundreds of iron furnaces are kept in work, besides those for other
purposes. It moves the machinery of at least 3000 factories, 2500 steam
vessels, besides numerous smaller craft, and I cannot tell how many
forges and fires. It aids in producing delicacies out of season in our
hothouses. It lights our houses and streets with gas, the cheapest and
best of all lights--London alone in this way spending about �50,000 a
year. It gives us oil and tar to lubricate machinery and preserve timber
and iron; and last, not least, by the aid of chemistry it is made to
produce many beautiful dyes, such as magenta and mauve, and also, in the
same way, gives perfumes resembling cloves, almonds, and spices.
The annual consumption of coal in Great Britain is reckoned to be not
less than 80,000,000 tons. The amount raised in 1873 amounted to
127,000,000 tons, and of this was imported into London alone 7,883,138
tons--4,000,000 tons, or 15 per cent. of the total out-put of the
country, being sent from Durham alone. The cost of the Wallsend coal on
board the ship may be stated at 10s. 6d. per ton; to this must be added
the charge at coal-market of 2s. 8d., freight say 5s. 9d., profit 7s.
6d., so that a ton of coal of this kind will cost in your cellar in
London the sum of �1, 6s. 5d.
I think it is now time to conclude this most interesting subject, for
though I have by no means exhausted it, yet I fear I have said as much
as a lecture will warrant. The subject shows us how mindful a kind
Providence has been of man, and to this nation in particular, for to our
coal we in a measure owe much of our greatness. So while we admire the
geology of our globe, let us not forget who made it and all that it
contains, and who, when He had finished the work, pronounced it all very
good. Let us so strive to live, that though we may be called away
suddenly, as 199 of our fellow-creatures were called by what is termed a
mining accident, we may be ready to meet Him who not only made us, but
made the coal, and who, when man, at first made perfect, fell away, was
pleased to send a Saviour to redeem us and bring us to that light which
fadeth not away.
_SCIENCE APPLIED TO ART_.
A resum� of science and art requires to set forth what they have already
done and what they are now doing--to trace them down to our own time,
and contrast their early stages with their present development. Giving
to art and science all that is their due, it must be evident to every
one that they are primarily not of human origin, but owe their existence
and progress to those inherent faculties of man which have been bestowed
upon him by an Almighty Being--faculties given not only to fathom the
works of creation, and adapt them for man's use and benefit, but also
that they might show forth the praise and honour of their Creator, as
"the heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament showeth His
handiwork." To set forth science and art before an Institution like that
here met together, behoves one to enter upon the subject in a way which
will not only interest but also instruct. But this is only an opening
address, and the lecturers who will follow me in due course will bring
before you the special interests of those special subjects on which they
are to treat. These cannot fail to interest as well as instruct those
who attend, their object being profit to the mind, and hence not only
the furtherance of mental culture, but increasing capabilities for
material prosperity.
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