The Project Gutenberg EBook of Lectures on Popular and Scientific Subjects
by John Sutherland Sinclair, Earl of Caithness

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Title: Lectures on Popular and Scientific Subjects

Author: John Sutherland Sinclair, Earl of Caithness

Release Date: March 26, 2005 [EBook #15468]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

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LECTURES

ON

POPULAR AND SCIENTIFIC SUBJECTS

BY THE

EARL OF CAITHNESS, F.R.S.

_DELIVERED AT VARIOUS TIMES AND PLACES._

Second Enlarged Edition.

LONDON:
TRUeBNER & CO., LUDGATE HILL.
1879.

Ballantyne Press

BALLANTYNE, HANSON AND CO.

EDINBURGH AND LONDON

CONTENTS.

COAL AND COAL MINES

SCIENCE APPLIED TO ART

A PENNY'S WORTH; OR, "TAKE CARE OF THE PENCE, AND
THE POUNDS WILL TAKE CARE OF THEMSELVES"

PAST AND PRESENT MEANS OF COMMUNICATION

THE STEAM-ENGINE

ON ATTRACTION

THE OIL FROM LINSEED

HODGE-PODGE; OR, WHAT'S INTILT

LECTURES ON POPULAR AND SCIENTIFIC SUBJECTS.

_COAL AND COAL-MINES._

There are few subjects of more importance, and few less known or thought
about, than our coal-mines. Coal is one of our greatest blessings, and
certainly one originating cause of England's greatness and wealth. It
has given us a power over other nations, and vast sums of money are
yearly brought to our country from abroad in exchange for the coal we
send. Nearly L17,000,000 is the representative value of the coal raised
every year at the pit's mouth, and L20,000,000 represent its mean value
at the various places of consumption. The capital invested in our
coal-mining trade, apart from the value of the mines themselves,
exceeds L20,000,000 sterling, and the amount of coal annually extracted
from the earth is over 70,000,000 of tons. Taking the calculation of a
working miner--J. Ellwood, Moss Pit, near Whitehaven--we may state, that
if 68,000,000 tons were excavated from a mining gallery 6 feet high and
12 feet wide, that gallery would be not less than 5128 miles, 1090
yards, in length; or, if