The Wolverhampton and Midland Counties Advertiser. — 1875-12-11 (Wolverhampton, West Midlands, England)

THE USES" OF COAL. , • ,thellaest way of shewing what coal does for us -is to enumerate a few of the principal uses of coal rq. we PITY it. First of all is its domestic use. We use it for warming our dwellings and for cooking. During the present severe weather nobody will mistake the value of coal in warming-our houses; according to a common estimate, the iv/di-age consumption of coal for each person a,futilly is .one ton, which would make about 3000,000 tons per anniun in the United •Kittgdom. It is thus obvious that we should not know what to do without • .coal, but the. domestic use of coal constitutes A small 'part lof its utility. The next use we ay notice is in • the working. of metals—for Instance in the blacksmith's forge. From the earliest times coal seems to have been used' 'for the blacksmith's fire, It is peculiarly suitable for main.. that sort of "breeze" or small coal, which is -necessary for the blacksmith. It is very • probable that-the abundance of coal in Staffordshire and other•places assisted in the formation of the iron -trade, and the production of"those numerous hardwanis for „which Birmingham, Wolverhampton, and.Shefffeld are celebrated. But in the presenl•day we use—Coal in a ranch more extensive •way than merely in the coal blast furnace ,in making.iron. Another use of coal is in the salt trade, which is confined to a limited district where the salt-rock occurs in Cheshire, but that small: district supplies the greater part of the world with salt. Salt was originally derived from sea water, through evaporation by the sunrs rays. We now use heat from coal, which is employed for toiling the water in the salt pans. Without this fuel, salt could not be produced at its present low -.cost, enabling is to send salt from this country laS 'lndia, Australia, and South America, and almost every part of the world. We use coal "again in chemical manufactures. It is Almost impossible.' )to( -carry on any chemical operation without an abundant supply of heat for boiling, melting, • evmaor4in, dissolving., and . so, .. on. Thechief chemical manufa4ories are Situate between Manchester and Liverpool, and on the Tyne, the banks of which are covered :iwith: them,' as ill, evident from the fumes and the great heaps pf refuse. But far more important is the iron -manna; facture, or the smelting of iron with coal. This • mOde has 'arisen Within the last hundred years. t wits' not until, tl&e. middle of the last cent* that men succeeded well in making iron by the iief'coal ; previOnily 'it lhadtbeen7 done by charcoal. Another use of coal is where_ we turn the heat into force, as in the steam engine, and such is its power that the peOpleTof England are said to. perform as -much work lay-the aid of the steam. &gine, as all the people, in the world could effect . : hv .hanel labour. We shall enumerate a few oti e uses of the steam engine. First of all, thC t'nine pumps for us, that is to Say, it-gwis us 'the power of raising water. You may not at first appreciate 'the full' importance of that use, but the engin& was invented for the sole purpose of pumping the water from the mines, and without the pumping engine we could never have hacl.our _mines to any thing like 'their present depth and extent of workings. The iron trade, again, would be impossible on a large scale without the engine. Of 'cortrse iron was made before the 'steam. engi)ie. "as invented, but not to the same extent. The utmos+ 'difficulty was felt a century ago in comimtawntidsinognlbylabsyt .pegewesite. sufficient engin feortihroant wtherekk_ps,clawnedr could be obtained ,which is necessary for producing large iron plates in our rolling mills. Again, .etb,re seeam__ engine is necessarz for all our tchinerY'L)r its varied ustl.o,; and objects. keam-13eata'tl.epend entirely en-teair for not only :1)2n1-vehyeate generated seralarribedy 'are their hulls 'and engines made of iron, but locomotive is mainly made 000thnale. yarcoeouarlp;roinpthleallenedd by the use of coal, and it burns coal. The railroad is also made by the Use of coal, for it is an iron road. Etas also is made from coal, and the best artiAcial means nof, illumination is now derived froiitcOal: During the last twenty years we hav4.l commenced the production of petroleum or rparaffinloiltliat fill oiirlanips on 'Cannock Chase. Candles used to be made of wax, spermaceti, wild therexfAinsiire materials: As fine looking cab. dies and much cheaper ones are made frchn paraffin which ,is derived from coal. Nor can we see any end to the uses to which the oil derived from coal may be applied. The thicker oils frani coal are used as lubricants, taking the place "of palm and other more costly oils. We have used coal tar ilcra long time as paint to preserve wocidi butait isk.only °flak that it has been found 'to a- multitude of valuable things such. -as colours and scents. The beautiful-mauve and ixtagenta. colours are aeriirod from Coal tar, ap well'as the pine apple and other flavotbrs that -hre used in the manufacture of sweetmeats. .We used :to think. that all our wealth wane from •India: It comes rather from the "black diamond," as coal is appropriately named. The coal mines of this country aire,our Indies. -; • ~; q/kORGE PICKARD, Cannook  The twc servant girls who were • ecently found Tying bed near Portsmouth,- mith their -throats cut, and sferering from the effects of poison, have recovier‘d enough to be taken into custody caged tvith- attempting to commit suicide. They pleadedxull4, aid Said it was the result Of. clisapi)oinW love.  The''Soin„tit.ryr°4lo. 11.Orcl:Wsa..1°-S :Bearing in mind that bravery covedion with the saving of life in peril from fir: water is specifically rewarded by pecial ageneies,lhe li.nights of St. John of Jerusalem have' turnedtheii attention to the recognition of heroism at sour collieries and ironworks. A case of the kind happened not long ago in consequence of the coining, into collision of two cages in a shaft, near to Chesterfield. Six colliers were in one of the cages, fief of whom were preserved alive by the dauntlessness and prolonged endurance, notwithstanding they were suffering groat pain, of two noble fellows of the pit's v.Jj reoognition—of -thirbraVery note has 'lby the knig4tly ordeedf which we speak, '1 clays ago Sir Richard Lechmere, as secretary of the brotherhood, went to the place (NI hittington Moor), and presented medals and other gifts to the two heroes in humble life. In one