We are glad to find tbis interesting and little-known country is likely to be visited by some of the members of this enterprising club. The address recently delivered by the Vice-President, Mr. William Longman, now lies before us, illustrated by a neatly-executed map of the wild volcanic island he seeks to bring, in a special manner, before scientific notice. It is quite surprising to think that a country so rich in the physical phenomena of moving glaciers and active volcanos has “never been explored or even visited” by any traveller who has made a study of such great causes of surface-aspect. Certain work has, however, been done, and what records of it we have been able to meet with are appended to this article. Most of them are books available for study, and for this special work perusal of them will be useful, as no doubt a goodly company of physical geologists will answer Mr. Longman's call; for existing glacial conditions in Iceland are more likely to aid them in learning the operations of the post-pliocene glacial eras, which in Britain have left such abundant records of their existence.

No one who has read the last “Edinburgh Paper,” by Mr. Robert Chambers, “Ice and Water,” can fail to see how greatly our comprehension of the recent arctic condition of the British Isles will be aided by examination of that icy fringe of the northern zone, which has of late so materially influenced our climate, as if we were again menaced with a southerly extension of polar ice.

I shall now give a few out of many specimens of coal, to show its composition, and so look at it in a practical point of view. For ordinary purposes, there is no doubt the “best” is the best; but whether that best is Welsh, or Newcastle, or Scottish, I do not pretend to say; for the various kinds of coal are suited for different purposes, and what may be refuse in one direction may be of the greatest use in another.

In experiments undertaken with a view to determine what coals were best suited for our steam-navy, Sir Henry de la Beche and his associates tried nearly all the kinds known in Britain, and compared them too with those artificial fuels which are made up from coal-refuse, and are extremely valuable in their way.

I can only give a few examples, and shall refer my young readers—they are older now than when the lecture began, and will not mind a little dry study—to the book itself, if they require more information.

They tried these coals to see how much they held of carbon, which supplies the heat; of hydrogen, which gives the flame; of oxygen, which is worse than useless in the coal, though essential in the air that is to support the combustion; and, lastly, the quantity of ashes left after the coal was consumed.