Amendment Act is failing to keep down pauperism. The socalled labour test, as it has hitherto been applied, has been characterised more by the irksomeness and repulsiveness of the relief, than the industrial nature of employment. In 1835, the 'great æra of the Poor-law Reform Act, the rates reached 7,373,8077.; and in 1848, after thirteen years' operation of the Amendment, we find the rates are 7,817,4297; and that every "ninth person in our population is a pauper;' and that in their joint increase during the last two years, that of the paupers has been double that of the criminals. The reformatory character of the discipline essential to the object in view has been almost wholly omitted: and we find the system so essentially faulty, that we are fast relapsing into a state of pauperism as bad as it was before.' After stating, and showing from good authorities, that in Prussia, Belgium, Saxony, Bavaria, Denmark, Sweden, the Hanse Towns, Mecklenberg, and in most parts of the United States, employment is found for the poor, of a kind which almost always repays the full expenses of their maintenance, and often yields a surplus for their outfit and education, he emphatically concludes, Nearly all Europe and America thus afford us an example of what a Poor-law must be, if it aim at the reduction of pauperism. But I have no hesitation in averring my belief, founded on many years' ob'servation and experience of the Poor-law practised in Eng⚫ land, that we are adopting the surest means of augmenting the burden we seek to lessen.' The training of pauper children in workhouse schools, although the duty of industrial training is now recognised by law, has hitherto failed, from mismanagement, equally with the workhouse itself; and he agrees with the Poor-law Commissioners in their last Report, that we must look to the establishment of District Schools if we mean to prevent the workhouse schools from degenerating into mere seminaries of future paupers.

ART. VII. Statistics of Coal. The Geographical and Geological Distribution of Fossil Fuel, or Mineral Combustibles employed in Arts and Manufactures, &c.; with coloured Maps and Diagrams, derived from official Reports and accredited Authorities. By RICHARD COWLING TAYLOR, F.G.S., &c. &c. 8vo. 8vo. London, Chapman: Philadelphia, T. W. Moore. Pp. 754.

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HE author of this volume has been fortunate in the publication of his work at a time when the supply of fuel in the remotest quarters of the globe has become a new and most important question. The Indian Seas are already traversed by steam vessels, from Suez by Aden, Bombay, and Ceylon, to Singapore; and whilst we write a public meeting has been held for the purpose of completing the line to Sydney, the capital of Australia. The American 'movers' too, have before this time shot out by railway to the far West; and having once reached the shore of the Pacific, the steamers of the United States will soon stretch over to the Sandwich Islands, Tahiti, China, and the Indian Islands, from the East; and thus complete the circuit of the globe by steam. It is not, therefore, at all extravagant to suppose that a steam voyage round the world will in a few years be so practicable, that the merchant and tourist may make the circuit within a year, and yet have time enough to see and learn much at many of the principal 'stations' on his way. And it is very satisfactory to know that, in addition to the ancient and well-known supplies of coal from the mines of Europe, a production amply sufficient for all the markets and all the possible uses of the world, may now be expected from America; and that in every quarter mineral fuel of some sort exists, and may be made available for steam navigation.

Mr. Taylor, who is resident as an engineer in America, and is already known as the author of several publications of great

All that is now wanting to extend the voyage from Singapore to Sydney is a coal depôt in one of the islands east of Java. Thence, passing by Timor, the vessels will avoid the dangers of Torres' Straits (now well ascertained), by anchoring at night; and, taking in coal. again at Port Albany, a newly-discovered harbour close to Cape York, the passage, within the barrier-reef, to Sydney, is practicable with ease and safety;-the whole voyage from England to that place, which now requires four months, and is often prolonged to five, being thus easily accomplished within seventy days.

merit in geology, informs us, that wishing to compare the details of the coal trade of the United States and of some other countries, he found that the information required was not accessible in any single work, or even in a number of works-and in many cases was nowhere to be found on record. He began, therefore, to collect from original sources, till his materials expanded into a large volume: And there is no quarter of the world from which he has not obtained information of great interest and value.

The nature of the information which the reader may expect to find in this work may be estimated from a prefixed list of its contents, which is prefaced by an introduction of one hundred and fifty pages-in itself a valuable treatise:-on the general structure of coal deposits, an account of the supposed origin of coal, of the vegetable remains which have been found in it, the system of coal-mining, and of ventilating and draining mines; and a statement of the accidents and diseases to which the workmen in such mines are exposed, and of methods for obviating or lightening those evils.

The proper business of the volume occupies, with an excellent index, about seven hundred pages. It is illustrated by several coloured maps and woodcuts. The general plan under which the author arranges his information-beginning with the United States, and ending with New Zealand, the most remote of British colonies-is, to give the population of each country and of its local divisions, an account of the weights and measures, with a reduction of them in every case to the English standard, the exchanges, and the tariff of duties paid on coal and other fuel, the quantity (reduced to English tons,) produced, exported, and consumed at home in every state,the average prices and amount of sales; with general observations on the coal trade, the local modes of working, and the economy of the mines,-the extent, features, and peculiarities of the coal tracts, -the qualities and analyses of the different varieties of fuel in each district,-exact references to authorities and published documents being given throughout. From this ample enumeration, our readers will be enabled to judge of the vast amount of the statistical details condensed into the volume; and will perceive also, that it is impossible within our limits to give more than a very general view of its multifarious contents, -the greater part, indeed, not admitting of abridgement.

The inquiries of the author have been extended, with marvellous industry and perseverance, to every part of the globe; but, as might be expected of an engineer residing in America, the coal tracts of that vast country naturally occupy a large portion of the work. As these are probably less known to most of our

readers than the coal-producing states of Europe, while they are beyond all comparison the greatest depositories of coal in the world, affording to that fortunate region the prospect of almost unbounded wealth, - we shall confine our attention chiefly to this part of the work: - But our readers may be assured that the author's account of other countries gives equal proofs of his diligence in collecting information.

Under the term FUEL Mr. Taylor comprehends not only what is commonly called Coal,- that term including the bituminous varieties of England, Anthracite, like that of Wales and of Kilkenny in Ireland, and the brown coal of mineralogists, but also bituminous wood and peat. The whole forming, in fact, a series of gradations, from anthracite (mineral carbon), to recent wood the differences arising chiefly from the addition to this carbon, of oxygen, hydrogen, and saline and earthy matter in various proportions. The adaptation of these varieties of fuel to the purposes of manufacture and commerce, can be determined only by experiment; and has recently been the subject of elaborate research in America and Belgium, as well as in this country. Our present business is chiefly with coal, in its application to the purposes of life and commerce, rather than the mineralogical or chemical qualities of the substances themselves. But, even in this view, lignite and peat are important subjects of inquiry; since there are purposes to which they are especially adapted under proper management; and as cases must arise, in the progress of navigation by steam, when it may be necessary to have recourse even to the inferior kinds of fuel, the places affording them ought to be indicated.

Until after the middle of the eighteenth century, nearly the whole of the great basin of the Mississippi, the valley of the Ohio, and the western slope of the Alleghany Mountains, or Appalachian Range, constituting the great central coal-field of America, were partially occupied by Indian tribes; and for many years afterwards, this vast region was held to be of so little value, that the acquisition of the coal-fields did not in any respect influence the arrangements between the parties, made at sundry times by William Penn and his family, and subsequently by the proprietaries. By the treaty of 1768, the latter became possessed of nearly the whole area of the bituminous coal-land of Pennsylvania,for the sum of 10,000 dollars!'; and about that time the presence of coal in certain places seems to have first become known. But it was not till 1828 that the first cargoes from the Alleghany coal-fields reached Philadelphia and Baltimore.

، In the year 1753,' says Mr. Taylor, ، there were probably no white men living within the present limits of the city of Pitts

burg; where, even in 1775, only a few cabins were standing: 'but, in our day, three fourths of a million of tons of coals are annually received there; and the iron manufacture is so great as to confer upon the place the title of "the Birmingham of "America."-Yet, vast as the produce is already in some places, it can scarcely be said to have begun; and it is impossible,' says the author, in concluding his general sketch of what he calls the great Alleghany coal-field, (preferring that term to Appalachian,) to contemplate its gigantic proportions, and its enormous yet almost untouched resources, without being struck 'with the magnificent field it presents for future enterprise.'

The coal regions of America may be divided generally into three principal masses: the great central tract, extending from Tuscalosa in the state of Alabama to the west of Pennsylvania, -and being apparently resumed in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia ;-the second, also a vast region, strikes north-westward from Kentucky, crosses the Ohio, and stretches out through Illinois to the Mississippi; -a third region, smaller than the others, but still of great importance, lies between the three great lakes, Erie, Huron, and Michigan.

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'A comparison of the coal strata of contiguous basins,' Mr. H. D. Rogers states, has convinced me that these are all no more than detached parts of a once continuous deposit; and 'the physical structure of the whole region most satisfactorily 'confirms this idea, by showing that they all repose conformably on the same rocks.' The extent of this enormous coal'field' considering the outlying portions as intimately connected with it-is, in length, from N. E. to S. W., rather more than 720 miles, and in greatest breadth about 180 miles ;-upon a moderate calculation, its area amounts to sixty-three thousand square miles! But there are, besides, several smaller basins, including the detached troughs of anthracite in Eastern Pennsylvania, which of themselves alone form one of the most remarkable coal tracts anywhere existing. These may be stated, approximately, at about 200 square miles, presenting unequivocal evidence that all were once united. And thus we shall have a coal formation, which, before its original limits were reduced, 'measured, at a reasonable calculation, 900 miles in length, and in some places more than 200 miles in breadth. The strata 'which constitute this vast deposit, comprehending coal in nearly 'all its known varieties, from the driest and most compact anthracites, to the most fusible and bituminous common coal.' The development of the structure of this great region, a capital step in the geology of America, was accomplished by the brothers Professors Rogers, after several years of elaborate investigation.