The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1873-11-22

reckau we're forbidden from using coal in
their works
Belgium commenced the development
Of her coal mines shortly after Britain.
| One Of the mining traditions Of that coun-
| try. which is cherished to this day among
| the miners, is tn the effect that the exist
ence and use of coal were revealed to man
\ by an angel from Heaven. There lived at
| the village If Pleinevaus poor but wor-
| thy blacksmith named Honilles, whose
wants were such that his family were often
| obliged to 90 to bed without supper. One
day. while working at his forge and brood
ing over his hard lot, an aged man with a
grey beard entered his shop and inquired
how he was getting along. Honilles rela
ted the story Of his life He said he could
do very vel were charcoal not SO dear.
| The venerable parsonage, who was in real
| Ity an angel, was moved to pity, and
leading tha worthy Terrier to an adjoining
| hill. show I him some black earth exposed
On the hi side, and told him to try some
Of it ia his forge He did SO, and it crea
! tcA $40 intense a heat that he was able to
forge horse shoe n a single heating. De
! lighted at his success, llomlles communi-
| 1ated the glad tidings to his brother trades
mtn and to All his neighborS. Hence
forth the black stones we're used instead
of wood and the people. IN gratitude e
Houiiles, named the new fuel IN honor Of
this ancisnt miner.
Ia France. coal mining operations date
! back to the fourteenth century. The his
! tory of Its introduction III Paris, was simi-
! lar "a that i'm London II was condemned
| and expelled from the city because OF the
| uoNious sulphurous vapors which It was
/ supposed tl emanate in the act Of combus-
! rlnu. and the IRON merchants we're prohib-
| it.d on pain of fine and imprisonment
! from uslng ID IN their workshops.
In the year 1869, little more shan cen
tury ago, some English merchants prompt
| ed hy the dtarncSs ot wood aud the con
syyueut hope Of gam, commenced ship
| pu- coal from Newcastle to Paris. Ii
was bought ~ the poorer classes. A gen
.rl cutlery Was raised against its use: Il
/ WAS accused 81 pollutng the air. Of caus
| iu- disease ot the chest and body, and n
] even mpairing the beauty of ladies' com
p.,Niaus. But as IL vas much cheaper
than wood fuel, and Was being used IN Eng
| land rs almost the only house fuel of
] that country. an appeal was had to the
! Academy ot Science ana Medicine, which
| decided III its favor Popular clamor re-
! fused however, 20 be appeased, and for
| some time an unceasin. warfare was
made upon the noXlous poisonous and
offensive English mineral
An unaccountable prejudice appears to
have prevailed against the introduction Of
coal as a household fuel IN every country
| If Europe Its sooty and repulsive as
! pect doubtless contributed To this feeling.
| some ~ the English writers, as late as the
fore part OF the seventeenth century, are
| very severe IN their denmcIations Of the
! oiious sea coal, and lament h. see manu-
features spring up which made the use Of
| r1ai q necessity AT their works. In Stoves
annals. by Homes. published in the year
| 1882. zee are told that ''the nice danes of
! London would not come INTO any house or
ru.m where sea Goals we're burned, nor
willingly eat of the meat that Vas either
s.l ur roasted with sea coal fire
Iu some localities MI the continent of
! Europe this feeling does not appear to be
wholly overcome even at the present day
Or Bennett. an English clergyman who
lyy5in Normandy az the beginning Of the
present century was ordered to vacate his
huls. by the landlord because liz used
coal Another Enghshman. resident Of
Cain. I'M France. had invited party to his
house. \ great number at the invited
guests failing Il appear, he inquired the
reason and Was informed II was under
stood that be used coal
The Chinese were only acquainted with
tlc usy ana properties of coal, and mining
vas dome and even the iniiammable gases
were extracted from the coal for iliumins-
ting purposes from the remotest times But
tlis people appear 70 have made no pro-
-russ in the art Of mining since At the
present day their operations are utterly
rude ami primitive. They carry forward
the whole If the coal in the act If excava-
tion, leaving no pillar Or other supports
for the maintenance Of the superincum-
bent strata. Nothing is known of the art
y. mine ventilation the noXious airs pol
lutlug tEv mine or escaping through the
action Of the natural forces When sink
ing IS done, which is seldom attempted,
rope and windlass operated BY I-.ere brute
or human force Is used for hosting the
coal and raising the miners. The presence
~ water leads to the immediate abandon
ment pf the workings. as no means are
iAvNlntN go Idiot ~ ltoilt tuc illllts+
In the Turkish mines at Heraclea. in
Asia Minor, the same rude and barbareus
methods ot getting coal are practiced as in
CHINA. Drainage Is utterly neglected and
no system Of working the coal is known
a Turkish Project, having been charged
With the management Of mine in the Lii
banus. observing the pillars as he entered
the shaft, wished 10 know what these
masses Of coal had been left there for,
and ordered their immediate extraction.
In the crush which resulted, the Project
was among the slain, a circumstance which
does not often accompany bad manage
ment among his more civilized colleagues
IN the British and American mines, for in
the great mining disasters Of these cOun-
tries, the responsible managers are almost
always found at safe distance on the out
side
SCIENTIFIC AND MECHANICAL.