There, the greater part of his existence had been passed.
Besides this, James Starr belonged to the Scottish Antiquarian Society,
of which he had been made president. He was also included
amongst the most active members of the Royal Institution; and the
Edinburgh Review frequently published clever articles signed by him.
He was in fact one of those practical men to whom is due the prosperity
of England. He held a high rank in the old capital of Scotland,
which not only from a physical but also from a moral point of view,
well deserves the name of the Northern Athens.
We know that the English have given to their vast extent of
coal-mines a very significant name. They very justly call them
the "Black Indies," and these Indies have contributed perhaps
even more than the Eastern Indies to swell the surprising wealth
of the United Kingdom.
At this period, the limit of time assigned by professional men
for the exhaustion of coal-mines was far distant and there was
no dread of scarcity. There were still extensive mines to be
worked in the two Americas. The manu-factories, appropriated
to so many different uses, locomotives, steamers, gas works,
&c., were not likely to fail for want of the mineral fuel;
but the consumption had so increased during the last few years,
that certain beds had been exhausted even to their smallest veins.
Now deserted, these mines perforated the ground with their
useless shafts and forsaken galleries.
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