tains, and in the most ancient sedimentary rocks. It is sometimes found in a native state, though less frequently than gold.

"Iron is far more valuable than either of the socalled precious metals, and its ores are scattered over the crust of the globe with a beneficent profusion proportionate to the utility of the metal. One of your best authors has well remarked, that he who first made known the use of iron may be truly styled the father of arts and author of plenty.

"What miserable creatures you mortals would be without this marvellous substance! Banish the ploughshare, the anchor, and the needle from the world, and there would be an end to agriculture, to navigation, and to the fashioning of clothes. You would be reduced to the state of barbarism, and in your naked and forlorn condition your time would be fully occupied in seeking your scanty meal of acorns, and in paddling about in your rude canoe, intent upon spearing a stray fish with your wooden lance. You would cease to be interested in 'The Fairy Tales of Science,' and 'the long result of time' could have no possible attraction for a hungry savage like you.

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Copper, lead, and tin, are also estimable treasures; indeed, there is not a single metal which has not contributed, or at any rate may not contribute, to man's comfort and happiness. Look upon me as the friend of the human race, for it is I who superintend the filling of the veins with ores, and

T

all the metallurgical operations of nature's laboratory. But here is another gnome who, despite his ugliness, has quite as great a claim to your respect as I have. I leave you with him." So saying, the armour-clad spirit vanishes in a most mysterious manner, before we can shape our grateful thoughts into words.

The gnome who now seats himself on the sparry throne is a sombre-looking little imp, with something so repulsive, and at the same time something so ludicrous, in his whole appearance, that we are undecided whether we ought to run away or burst out laughing. His ugly face wears a very comical expression, and is as black as jet. His crooked body is clothed in a suit of shining black; his legs are black, his feet are black; in fine, he is black all over. But what renders this strange being so terrible, is a circle of flames which surrounds his head and forms a sort of fiery crown.

"I am the gnome of the coal-measures," says the little blackamoor; "those wondrous accumulations of ancient vegetable matter that abound in these subterranean realms. I need not tell you that coal is one of the greatest treasures hidden in the bowels of the earth. By it man heats his apartments, cooks his food, fuses the metals, and produces steam, which sets all kinds of machinery in motion. With it he feeds his iron horses, which drag him from place to place with the velocity of the wind; and with it he raises an agent that propels his ships along the pathless deep against wind and tide.

"You are familiar with the general aspect and nature of coal, and are doubtless aware that it is almost wholly composed of the element, carbon. Were I to describe the immense varieties of coal that occur in nature, you would not thank me for my trouble, and would probably fall asleep long before I reached the end of my list. These different varieties of coal may, however, be grouped under three heads:-anthracite, ordinary or pit coal, and brown coal or lignite.

"Anthracite is a natural coke or charcoal, and may be regarded as the most completely mineralized form of coal. If you handle a piece of this substance, you will find that it does not soil the fingers like ordinary coal, that it is much heavier, and that it has a glistening and semi-metallic aspect. It is not easily ignited, but when burning gives out a fierce heat, and neither flames nor smokes.

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Ordinary coal has many varieties, which, however, may be classified into four kinds. The first kind is called caking-coal, from its fusing or running together on the fire, so as to form clinkers. Splint or hard coal comes next, which is not easily broken, nor is it easily kindled, though it affords a clear and lasting fire when once ignited. Cherry or soft coal, is an abundant and beautiful kind, and highly prized by mortals. It does not cake when heated, it can be broken with ease, and it readily catches fire, requiring but little stirring, and giving out a cheerful flame and heat. Another kind is called

cannel coal. It is always compact, and does not soil the fingers. It varies much in appearance, from a dull earthy to a lustrous wax-like substance. The bright shining varieties often burn away like wood, leaving scarcely any cinders and only a little white ash, while the duller kinds leave white masses of ash, almost equal in size and shape to the original lumps of coal. Jet, of which you make necklaces and bracelets, is merely an extreme variety of cannel coal.

"Brown coal, or lignite, is a substance of comparatively recent formation, and it sometimes exhibits the structure of the plants from which it is derived, the trunks and branches being plainly perceptible. This brown coal is only had recourse to where there are no older beds beneath, or where they are too far down to be reached by the miner.

"Although you mortals are constantly consuming vast quantities of coal in your stoves, fire-places, and engine-furnaces, I give you my word that there is quite enough in the earth's crust to supply all your wants for thousands of years to come. Many of the great coal-fields are as yet untouched, for until the wood of a new country is used, and civilization has made some progress, man never dreams of looking for his fuel in Gnome-land."

Where have we been? To Gnome-land, or to dream-land? The cavern and all its weird inhabitants have vanished. We are sitting at our desk, with a text-book of mineralogy open before us, the source from which our fairy tale proceeded.