The suburban citizen., 1902-11-01
COAL, COAL. COAL.
A Few Entertaining Facts About the
Fossil Fuel.

Few Entertaining Facts About the
Fossil Fuel.
Coal seems to have been entirely un-
known to the ancients. None of the
writers of antiquity makes any refer
ence to such a fuel.
The half-savage Britons, however,
seem to have known of the rich coal
deposits Of their isle, and to have
made some slight use of the fuel, be-
fore the invasion of julius Caesar and
his Roman legions.
England was undoubtedly the first
European country in which coal was
used to any considerable extent, and
it had become an article Of household
consumption during the Anglo-Saxon
period as early as $50 A. D.
About the end of the 18th century
1t began to be employed in London, but
at first only in the arts and manufac-
lures; and the innovation was CON-
plained of as injurious to human
health. In 1915 therefore parliament
petitioned the King, Edward H., to
prohibit the use of coal, and procla-
nation was accordingly issued against
it; but owing to the high price of wood
its use soon became general in London.
Here sit T. an Englishman, by sea
coal fire." Docton Johnson was heard
to murmur by James Boswell after
their famous Journey to the Hebri-
des." The term sea coal which has
been long standing puzzle to Ameri-
cans, arose from the fact that it was
once wholly, and is still largely car
ried by sea. Graphic descriptions OF
these grimy coasting coliers may be
found in w. Clark Russells nautical
novels.
The first discovery of coal in Amer
lea was made by a missionary priest
called Father Hennepin, near what is
now Ottawa, ILL.,, while all the western
territory was still nominally in the
possession of France. Nothing came
of the discovery, however, nor were
mining operations begun until 1913,
when five boatloads of finty coal were
floated down the Lehigh and Schuyl-
kill rivers amid in Philadelphia for S21
per ton, the war between Great Britain
and the United States having put an
end to the importation Of Liverpool
coal.
The fuel of the earlier years Of the
republic had been almost entirely of
wood, English sea coaP' being a rare
luxury known only to the wealthier
classes. The use of "sea coal" contin-
ued to be a sort of fad among conserv-
ative Americans, and as late as 1921 it
was still in extensive use, though reg
ular shipments from the Pennsylvania
mines had begun the previous year.
In 1920 the total coal product of
Pennsylvania was only 1000 tons, while
22,122 tons of Liverpool coat were inn
ported into the United States. Indeed
American literature of the first quar-
ter Of the nineteenth century seems
to show that wood was still almost the
only fuel known to the great mass Of
the people. In works of fiction, and
those describing the social customs
and habits Of the leople, references to
coal fires only occur in what are in
tended to be pictures of high life"
Charles Dickens has given many
graphic pictures of the manner in
which the poor of London husband
their scanty stock Of coal by filing the
CRATE with bricks, leaving only small
space in the centre for the much-prized
fuel. The comparatively high price of
coal in London arises from a local tax,
which was first imposed after the great
fire in 1867, in order to enable the cor
poration to repair the ravages it had
committed; and it has since been con-
tinued, with true British persistency
as fund for civic improvements. But,
as well-known political economist
has pertinently remarked, no improve
ment, in the eyes Of the poor at least,
could equal reduction in the price OF
coal.