Mr Bald ati the Fires that take place in Collieries. 109 



coals at d. This flame could have been immediately suppressed, 

 by covering over the pits b and c with baulks of wood and wet 

 clay ; but there were horses at the bottom of the shaft &, so that 

 if they had shut the pits, the horses would have been instantly 

 suffocated ; on which account, the minds of all concerned were 

 turned to the saving of the poor horses. The men, therefore, 

 went resolutely down with the descending air at the pit b, slung 

 the horses in succession, and sent every one of them separately 

 to the surface, and then they themselves ascended. The two 

 pits were then covered over ; but as all hope of extinguishing 

 the fire, either by water or by contaminated air, was hopeless, 

 exertions were made to confine the fire to its circumscribed 

 place, and stone-walls were built in all the openings betwixt the 

 pillars and around the fire ; which walls were made air-tight by a 

 thick coating of lime-plaster. This has had the desired effect, 

 and the burning has been confined within these bounds. This 

 fire still continues, and an opening is kept at one of the pits, to 

 allow the suffocating vapour to escape, otherwise it would con- 

 taminate the fresh air where the miners are working. When I 

 visited this colliery a few years ago, I found the heat still very 

 strong, as it issued from the opening left in the pit ; and when 

 examining the mines, I found the plaster upon the walls had 

 very little warmth. I have no doubt this fire will continue to 

 burn within these bounds for a long period of years. 



I examined the wastings of another pit in this colliery some 

 years after, where the process of decomposition had commenced. 

 There I found the heat so great, that the miners were all of 

 them working naked above the girdle, as the heat was to them 

 exceedingly oppressive. 



Dysart Colliery has been frequently on fire in the main coal, 

 which is fully eighteen feet thick. One part of this coal con- 

 tains pyrites, existing rather in a combined state with the coal, 

 and not very visible to the eye. Many years ago it burnt with 

 violence, and extended progressively to the outcrop near the 

 surface, where the common blue schistus has been converted into 

 a brick-red colour by the heat. This burning created much 

 trouble and expence, and it was extinguished by insulating the 

 burning coal from the main body of the coal-field, till the fire 

 exhausted itself. It has now been extinct for a considerable 



