The Natural History of the Mineral Kingdom

Front matter

THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THF MINERAL KINGDOM. Edinbwrgb: fruited by John Brown. THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE MINERAL KINGDOM, RELATIVE TO THE STRATA OF COAL, MINERAL VEINS, AND THE PREVAILING STRATA OF THE GLOBE. IN TWO VOLUMES. By JOHN WILLIAMS, f.s.s.a. MINERAL SURVEYOR. THE SECOND EDITION* »1TH AN APPENDIX, CONTAINING A MORE EXTENDED VIEWpE MINERALOGY AND GEOLOGY. ILLUSTRATED WITH ENGRAVINGS. By JAMES MILLAR, M.D. F.S.A.S. And Lecturer on Natural History and Chemistry, Edinburgh. Vol. L EDINBURGH: PRINTED FOR BELL & BRADFUTE, AND W. LAING, EDINBURGH ; LONGMAN, HURST, REES, AND ORME; AND J. WHITE & CO. LONDON. 1810, iÆt./SmM/ PREFACE, WITH A SHORT NOTICE OF THE LIFE OF THE AUTHOR. It is now above twenty years since the first edition of this Work appeared. It was then received, and still continues to.be regarded) as the most valuable practiced treatise on theNatural History of Coal which hadi.yet.been offered to thfe public.

In bringing forward the present Edition, I have endeavoured to improve the Author's language, which, although always perspicuous, and fre quently vigorous, is often remarkable for its dif fuseness and tautology. But the task of curtail ing it of those redundancies and repetitions, which seemed unnecessary in the way of useful illustration, has been executed with a sparing hand ; so that to some readers it may appear that the style of the Work still retains a good deal of the less agreeable features of its original character. The subdivision of the Work into Chapters, and the exclusion of several long discussions on subjects unconnected with geological investigations, are VI

Preface

. the only other alterations which I have presumed to make. It was at first intended to add explanatory notes to the original text of the Author, referring, for fuller illustration of any point that seemed to re quire it, to an Appendix proposed to be given to each of the parts into which the Work is divided ; and, accordingly, this plan was so far pursued, even aster the printing commenced, as will appear by the references at pages 31 and 46 of Vol. I. which must now be expunged. It has, I believe, rarely happened that notes and illustrations, whether con nected with an original Work by the Author him self, or by an Editor, are so skilfully arranged, as to be entirely free from embarrassment to the reader. Aware of this inconvenience, which in the present case was likely to swell out to a con siderable magnitude, I was induced to change the plan first thought of, for that which has been adopted ; the advantages of which are, that the original Work and the Appendix, which are mutually illustrative of the same subjects, are in a great measure independent, so that each may be perused separately as a whole.

The Appendix, which occupies the greater part of the second Volume, contains a rapid sketch of the proper objects of mineralogy, as well as a com prehensive system of geology ; and whatever be the merits or defects in the execution of this part of the Work, I may assert with some confidence,

PREFACE.

. VII that it includes a more copious detail of geologi cal facts than any other work in the English language. The publishers of the present edition of this Work having expressed a wish that a short bio graphical notice of the Author should be prefixed to it, I made various applications to those quarters which seemed to be the most probable sources of information ; but all that I have been able to collect may be compressed in a very few words. Mr Williams was a native of Wales, and was originally bred a miner. He was some time a soldier in the Dutch service ; after which he was engaged at Leadhills to superintend the process of extracting silver from lead. It does not appear that he was long in that situation ; for, soon after he came to Scotland, he was employed by some proprietors in the vicinity of Edinburgh to search for lead ore.

He then became tacksman of the coal of Carlops on the estate of Newhall, which he has described as the extreme boundary of the coal-field of Midlothian. Unsuccessful in this undertaking, it was probably soon relinquished for an engagement with the Earl of Moray, to search for coal on his estate of Dunrobin, in the north of Scotland. In these trials, it is scarcely necessary to add he was disappointed. Mr Williams lived for some years at Gilmer ton, near Edinburgh, as manager of the coalworks at that place. Here he put together and prepared

PREFACE.

. for the Press the materials for his Mineral Kingdom, for which he had enjoyed the most favourable opportunities of collecting information, in the various pursuits which occupied his attention through life. While he resided at Gilmerton, he was frequently called out as a coal viewer, or mineral surveyor. He afterwards went to Italy, to search for coal and copper mines ; but by whom that speculation was proposed, I have not been able to learn. He died soon aster his arrival in that country. The only traits of the Author's character which I can venture to delineate, must be derived from this Work, in which he discovers himself to have been a man of acute observation and nice discern ment, of great activity, and ardour of mind ; and, what is not unusual in such characters, the warmth of his enthusiasm, on the peculiar sub jects of his contemplation, seems at times to have led him too far into visionary speculations. James Millar. Brotun's Square, Edinburgh, 20th April, 1810. Page. 1 ib 9 38 51 65 B4 95 105 109 CONTENTS p» VOLUME FIRST.

Part I. Of The Natural History Of The Strata Of Coal, And

OF THE CONCOMITANT STRATA Chap. I. Of the regular arrangement of the strata of coal II. Of the derangement of the strata of coal III. Examples of sections of the strata of coal in different places IV. Of the different kinds of sections of the strata, of stratification, and of the thickness of a seam of coal at different depths V. Of the strata in contact with the strata of coal VI. Of the different declivities of the strata of coal VII. Relative declivity of the strata of coal to the inclination of the surface VIIL Of the edge coal seams of Midlothian, and of the flat broad seams to the south ward IX. Of the extent of coal fields and coal conn' tries CONTENTS. X Page. Chaf. X. Of the indications of coal, and methods of searching for - - 133 XI. Of the formation and origin of coal 159 XII. Of the different kinds of coal - 175 XIII. Of the limited quantity of coal in Britain 184 XIV. Of the coal of Cape Breton and Newfoundland - - 200

Part II

Of THE NATURAL history of mineral veins, and OTHER REPOSITORIES OF THE USEFUL METALS 221 Chap. I. Of rake veins 222 II. Of the mineral substances with which veins are filled 235 III. Of irregular rake veins IV. Of partial veins 254 269 V. Of pipe veins, flat and accumulated veins VI. Of the accidents to which mineral veins 273 are subject 292 VII. Of other repositories of metallic ores VIIL Of the symptoms of mineral veins 300 318 IX. Of the different species of lead and copper ores 347 X. Of copper mines in Scotland XL Of the ores and mines of iron 363 373

Part III. Of The Natural History Of The Prevailing Strata, And Of

THE PRINCIPAL PHENOMENA UPON THE SURFACE OF OUR GLOBE 387 CHAr. I. Of the prevailing roeks of Britain, and of the degrees of their stratification 390 II. Of the stratification of the globe, of the continuity of the regular strata, and CONTENTS. XI Page. 425 of the interruptions to which they are subject - Chap. Ill System of Buffon examined, and compared with the real structure of the surface of the globe 449 IV Of the natural history of mountains, of their structure, and external phenomena - 468 V. VI. Of the component parts of rocks 495 Of the proofs of the universal deluge, derived from the strata of coal, and the general appearance of the surface of the globe • THE MINERAL KINGDOM.