One of the inconveniences attending the ordinary process of boring is, that the rock is pulverized, and nothing but little fragments of dust and mud are brought to the surface. Sometimes it is difficult to determine whether the stones through which the borer has passed are the proper ones to indicate the existence of coal, or whether the black matter comes from coal or shales. All these disadvantages have been overcome by means of a new instrument, which is in general use. A gouge in the form of a hollow cylinder is employed, furnished at the base with a row of teeth, or with several cutting blades of cast steel, and sometimes with a row of diamonds. It is worked like an ordinary borer or auger, and cuts a solid column or cylinder out of the rock as regular in shape as if it had been turned in a lathe. When this cylinder has been cut to a sufficient length, it is broken off by means of the gouge bit, or grapnel, which seizes it and brings it to the surface. The boring tool will cut a hole eight inches in diameter, leaving a pillar of rock in the centre which can be broken off at any desired length and brought to daylight. By means of this rock, the fossils in the stone may be studied, together with the structure of the strata, and all its peculiarities. Beautiful specimens of rock are frequently obtained in this way from great depths. Some borings have been made to a depth of nearly two thousand feet, with a diameter varying from eight to twenty inches. As the boring tool reaches the depth at which the workmen expect to find coal, the operations are conducted with the greatest interest. Every motion of the rod is carefully watched, and when the fragments of rock or earth are brought to the surface, they are examined with great care. When the coal is discovered there is much rejoicing, as it is then certain that the prize has been gained. It is the same in boring for coal as for oil. When a man in Western Pennsylvania has “struck oil,” and, according to the local expression, “struck it rich,” he feels that his fortune is made. More than one man has thus raised himself above his fellows when his search for coal was rewarded with success. An old story, which has been told many times, and will bear telling a good many times more, is not inapplicable here. [Sidenote: “DAD’S STRUCK ILE.”] During the period of the first oil excitement in Pennsylvania, a young man, whom the story represents to have been poor but honest, was paying his attentions to a maiden of his neighborhood. The maiden received his addresses, and the pair were engaged to be married. The father of the damsel was an oil seeker, and one day his search for oil was successful. That evening the young man visited his lady love. She received him coldly. He asked the meaning of the coolness, and she curtly replied, “I can’t marry you.” “Why?” asked the young man, eagerly. “Well,” said the girl, “I _can’t_ marry you; dad has struck ile.”