be copied by the human voice. This, an insignificant item in itself, is only one of the many curious results which are constantly being brought out as the outcome of electricity.

There is a fortune awaiting the man who can produce electricity in quantity as cheaply as the same horse-power is obtained from coal. This will be done, perhaps, sooner than we think. If fuel is maintained at present high prices, and thus injures other trades, it will gradually become less in demand.

How is it no one can produce an accumulator lamp which will give two candlepower for ten hours, and not be too heavy or clumsy to move about? Here is an opening for an inventive mind, and a fortune behind it to the successful patentee.

These remarks have already gone to a far greater length than I had intended, but you know I have only touched the fringe of the subject. If I have said anything which will cause the mining engineers of the future to be more skilful and successful than their predecessors, we all shall be pleased, and wish them God speed.

Mr. M. H. MILLS thought they ought to thank Mr. Longden for his interesting address. They would have to look to the younger members of the Institution to take up those scientific matters which had been mentioned. To the older members it would be like going to school again, and they would prefer to employ younger men who had studied electricity rather than to go deeply into it themselves.

Mr. WILLIAM SPENCER (Leicester) seconded the vote of thanks, and remarked that in most institutions it was the custom for the new President to give an inaugural address, and there being now so many similar institutions, it became, as Mr. Longden had said, most difficult to strike on new ground. He thought that Mr. Longden had done it and in an original manner. He looked upon the address as a most useful one to the rising generation, and it gave him great pleasure to second the vote of thanks.

The vote of thanks was agreed to.

Mr. LONGDEN said that he was very much obliged. If there was anything he had expressed which would be of use to the rising generation he should be glad. The first paper open for discussion was Mr. George Lewis's paper. He believed there were a number of gentlemen present prepared to speak, and if they could give any further information as to the minerals in the neighbourhood of Nottingham they would oblige a great number of interested persons.

Mr. W. SPENCER said that before the discussion commenced he thought they should pass a vote of thanks to their late President. Mr Jackson, as they all knew, was a very busy man, but he had devoted a great deal of his time to the service of that Institution, and he thought that for many reasons he was probably not sorry to retire from the post he had so well filled during the past year. He thought it was an honour to any man to be elected President of that Institution, but that honour, 3 Q

VOL. II.-1890-91.

like all honours, brought with it corresponding responsibilities. Mr. Jackson had been an excellent President, and it was a great pleasure to him to propose the vote of thanks.

Mr. W. G. TURBUTT, J.P., seconded the motion.

The vote was carried with acclamation.

Mr. JACKSON heartily thanked them for recognizing any feeble efforts of his in the way they had done. He could assure them that his term of office had been one of very great pleasure, and he only hoped the little he had done had been to the advantage of the Institution.

DISCUSSION ON MR. GEORGE, LEWIS' PAPER ON "A GEOLOGICAL SKETCH OF THE TOWN AND DISTRICT OF NOTTINGHAM.”

Mr. G. E. COKE said it would be a pity for this paper to be passed over without discussion. He thought it was an extremely good summary of what was known about the geology of the district. The knowledge of the coal-field south and east of Nottingham was at present derived principally from the two deep borings at North Scarle and Owthorpe. At North Scarle the Coal-measures were reached at a depth of 600 yards, and water from a depth of 100 yards came out at the top of the borehole. Mr. De Rance, a great authority on underground waters, considered that this water came from the Trent 9 miles away. The Owthorpe boring was only published to a depth of about 500 yards, though it was carried deeper; the Coal-measures were reached at 366 yards. The overlying measures were thus shown to be thicken. ing both to the south and east, and as the local dip of the coal was to the north of east, the prospect of finding an extensive coal-field south of Nottingham did not seem very hopeful. Going eastward the seams below the Top Hard showed a tendency to deteriorate, though the Top Hard so far had not shown this tendency; he was inclined to agree with the remark of the President that the available coalfield was not so extensive as was often supposed. Taking into consideration the increasing thickness of the overlying formations, probably heavily watered, the greater depth, and possibly inferior coal, he thought that the best of it was being worked out now. He hoped that some other gentlemen acquainted with the district would give their views.

Mr. M. H. MILLS made a similar appeal, remarking that he saw present Mr. Stokes and others. He was sure that Mr. Stokes could give them a good deal of information, both interesting and valuable. He quite agreed with everything Mr. Coke had said about this matter. There was no doubt that the coal-basin-the Derbyshire coal-basin-was gradually beginning to rise towards the south near Nottingham, and it was a question where the edge of the basin came. That could not possibly be told until they bored and found out. The Top Hard Seam cropped out south of Nottingham, not to the surface, but against the bottom of the upper

measures, and where the lower coals also cropped up against these upper measures could only be proved by boring. He did not think anyone of them had formed any reasonable opinion on the southern extremity of the coal-field, and he therefore thought it was better to say nothing more about it at present.

Mr. A. H. STOKES (H.M. Inspector of Mines, Derby) said as regarded the coal-field of Nottinghamshire, if a line were drawn from Nottingham to Worksop there was very little, if any, coal worked to the eastward of such a line, and the probability was that the county of Nottingham contained one of the largest unworked coal-fields in the kingdom, a coal-field with an area probably of something like 500 square miles of undeveloped coal-seams. He had not yet seen the slightest indication to doubt that the coal-seams extend right away to the eastern boundary of Nottinghamshire. With regard to its deterioration, there were managers of Nottinghamshire collieries present who would, he thought, tell them that the inclination of the Top Hard Seam at the extreme east was a very slight dip, and the quality did not deteriorate. As to the inferiority of the lower seams, he had not seen it as yet. He had compared some of the coals, but had not found much inferiority to similar seams worked in Derbyshire, miles away. He looked on Notts as one of the best coal-fields they had within miles of the town. As to its extension east of Nottinghamshire, well, probably the question might be asked him, "Do you think it extends to the North Sea?" All he said on that point was, he knew of no negative geological feature to indicate that coal did not exist in Lincolnshire. How far the Nottinghamshire coal-field extended towards the North Sea no one knew.

Mr. HUGH BROWNE (Nottingham) thought it was rather extraordinary that they should not know what existed just around them. Some sixteen years ago coal was discovered at Borrowash, in boring for a well, to the surprise of the mining engineers. He thought some organized effort ought to be made to ascertain where the coal-fields extended to. During the Manchester Ship Canal works most valuable beds of salt, etc., had been discovered, and similar discoveries had been made in Durham and North Yorkshire. By sinking, salt had been found in Cheshire; and salt and alum had been discovered in Prussia by similar means. He need hardly remind them of that most important discovery in mining of recent years, that by boring coal had been found in Kent. With these exceptions no efforts had been made towards finding out what was below them, and he thought that an Institution like that should direct their efforts to get some systematic boring taken up. There was another question for consideration, and that was the working of the thinner seams so largely abandoned at present as unprofitable, but of course that was more a matter for the future. And connected with this, he had noticed the illustration of the old dog-cart or truck, which evidently was a former method of getting thin seams. The practice was now prohibited by a law passed thirty-five years ago, which, he considered, was rather a questionable law. They might find that dogs could be used again in seams where they used to be employed and be better and cheaper than ponies, He was not a mining engineer. and simply threw out

these suggestions in the hope that some might be found to be practical. Another matter he might mention was the question as to how far electricity was dangerous underground. Some years ago he held an inquest on a man killed by lightning. The interest in the case was heightened by the effect of the fluid on the clothes he was wearing. The man and his companion were running for shelter in a thunderstorm. The man was struck down and his companion thought he was only dazed, appearing simply to fall down. He was dead. He was wearing a thick felt hat which seemed to have protected his head. His brow was marked where the electricity entered, but what impressed him (Mr. Browne) most was, that the electric fluid having entered the system seemed checked by woollen stockings and came out above them through the linen thread in the seam of his trousers, the seam being torn open. This fact seemed to suggest something as to the importance of clothing, and it possibly might afford a suggestion as to further protection in mines where electricity was used.

Mr. SPENCER, thought he could explain one point in Mr. Browne's remarks as to why people did not go boring about the country and expending their money. Coal mining was chiefly in the hands of private persons, and during some years things had been very bad. During the past three years they had been a little better. An eminent authority had stated that the money in the country employed in the industry of coal mining, had probably not yielded 24 per cent. There had for many years been rather too much coal in the market than too little; that was, he thought, the reason why people were not disposed to bore in the way named by the last speaker.

The PRESIDENT was afraid Mr. Browne had been chiefly regarding the interest of the landlords.

The discussion was adjourned to the next meeting.

ELECTION OF OFFICERS.

Messrs. WILLIAM WILDE and P. M. CHESTER, who at the commencement of the meeting had been appointed Scrutineers of the voting papers for the election of Council for the ensuing year, presented the result of their scrutiny, which was announced to the meeting by the Secretary.

A vote of thanks was passed to the Scrutineers.
The complete list is as follows:-

COUNCILLORS.

W. Davies, Esq., Sheepbridge Works,

Chesterfield.

M. Deacon, Esq., Blackwell Collieries,
Alfreton.

J. W. Fearn, Esq., Devonshire Street,
Chesterfield.

H. Fisher, Esq., Clifton Colliery,
Nottingham.

G. Fowler, Esq., Basford Hall, Notting-
ham.

J. C. B. Hendy, Esq., Pleasley Colliery,
Mansfield.

G. Howe Esq., Clay Cross, Chesterfield.
C. H. Oakes, Esq., Holly Hurst, Alfreton.
W. Salmond, Esq., Pinxton, Alfreton.
C. H. Seely, Esq., Sherwood Lodge,
Arnold, Notts.

J. B. Smith, Esq., Newstead Colliery,
Nottingham.

W. Spencer, Esq., Southfields, Leicester.

(George Lewis, Esq., Albert Street, Derby.

Ex-officio John Jackson, Esq., Clay Cross Works, Chesterfield.

H. Lewis, Esq., Annesley Colliery, Nottingham, Retiring Vice-President.

TREASURER.

E. Eastwood, Esq., Railway Wagon Works, Chesterfield.

SECRETARY.

W. F. Howard, Esq., Cavendish Street, Chesterfield.

DISCUSSION ON MR. M. H. MILLS' PAPER, "A FEW NOTES ON THE IRONSTONE DEPOSITS OF LEICESTERSHIRE."

Mr. MILLS said that when he made the few remarks contained in this paper he promised that he would, if able, write a paper on the subject dealing with it more fully. He hoped to be able to do so very shortly.

Mr. W. SPENCER hoped Mr. Mills would favour them with a fulfilment of his promise as early as possible.

Mr. J. B. SMITH said he would like to make one remark. In the first part of Mr. Mills's paper there was a statement which rather cast a reflexion on the ironmasters of the Midlands, which was that whilst other ironstone than that obtained from the Coal-measures was used in the North of England in 1838, it was not until 1876 that any ironstone field was worked in Leicestershire. Now, Northamptonshire stone was very similar, and the stone there was worked as far back as 1865. He supposed Mr. Mills referred to Leicestershire exclusively, but as it stood the statement rather cast a reflexion.

MR. MILLS-I meant Leicestershire, not Northamptonshire, which was much earlier.

The PRESIDENT was glad to hear that Mr. Mills would be able shortly to give them a fuller paper on this subject. A gentleman had been nominated that day who would, he believed, be well able to discuss the question of the ironstone fields in the adjoining counties.