The Sun.
London, England, 1854-07-21 00:00:00

TO THE EDITOR OF THE TIMES.

Sir,—Perceiving in the Times of this day an extract
from the Moniteur, in which it is asserted, on the audio
rity of a letter from Leipsic, that I " had not hesitated to
declare that the discovery of a cod mine in Russia was im-
possible," I hasten to contradict this very erroneous state-
ment, and to explain, with your permission, my views on
this subject. _ _

In 1810-1, after my first journey in Russia, I pointed
out the simple but important fact, that throughout the
Baltic provinces and extensive northern tracts the for-
mations which were at or near the surface were of remoter
antiquity than the great coal-bearing strata, and that, not
containing any tracos of fossil vegetobles out of which coal
could have been produced, it was quite impossible to obtain
the mineral by sinking shafts in that region. At the
same time, assisted by my French colleague, M. de Ver.
neuil, and aided by the Imperial mining engineers, Colo-
nel Helmersen and Count Keyserling, I indicated the po-
sition and nature of two or three thin seams of ill-con-
solidated impure coal which aro visible, at intervals, in
the lowest member of the carboniferous rocks, both
in the Valdai Hills and near Tula ,and Kaluga. A
sectional view of one of these examples, as occurring
in the Valdai Hills, about 125 verts to the south
of St. Petersburg, which was given in the large
work and has recently been re-
producedin m y
m colleagues a
yv,,,orkeiitnidtlesedlfhiluria (page 328), is, I sus-
pect, the " coal mine" spoken of as having been lately dis-
covered near the capital—though its existence has long
been a matter of notoriety.
Tracing these slightly carbonaceous strata to the great
Lake Onega, my companions and myself indicated how
such strata there thinned out into mere bituminous shale,
and how all traces of them disappeared before we reached
the banks of the great river Dwina and the shores of the
White Sea near Archangel. But even then I adverted to
a productive coalfield in the country to the north of the
Sea of Azof, or about 500 verts to the south of Moscow.
Researches pursued in subsequent years (1841 to 1844 in.
elusive) confirmed my views and extended my inference
respecting the absence of any coal worthy of national atten-
tion over other regions larger than Franco and the British
Isles united, whether as subtending the Ural Mountains or
in the territories of Orenburg, Kazan, and Astracan. This
opinion was unreservedly expressed at the time to the Im-
perial Government, and, on my return home, to my asso-
ciates in science. The southern coalfield, however, or that
which is watered by the RiverDonetz, was again specially ex-
cepted, and a description of its peculiar phenomena and the
disturbed condition of its strata, the result of a per-
sonal survey with M. de Yemeni', was given in the work
entitled "Russia and the Ural Mountains," accompanied
by some speculations of my own on the ulterior prospects
of that mineral tract. The statist and miner who wish to
obtain accurate detailed knowledge respecting this coal-
field, most of the beds of which are anthracitic, must con•
suit an excellent memoir thereon by my friend M. Le
Play, an eminent French mining engineer, who explored
that portion of the south of Russia for M. Anatole Demitloff.
In conclusion, I may be permitted to state, that
during my journeys in Russia I invariably met with
the kindest reception and truest hospitality among all
classes of the inhabitants, with whom the name of English-
man was, indeed, everywhere a passport; while the Em-
peror was pleased to confer honours for the gratuitous
services of an English and a French geolog,ist, wire, in
searching after truth, were bound to announce facts which
could not have been palatable, respecting the absence of
coal in such Law portions of the empire.- I remain, Sir,
your story obedient servant,
• - ItODERICK I. AIURCIIIBON.
Lichfield-house, Richmond; July 15.