SOME NOTES ON RESULTANT GASES FROM 

 CERTAIN EXPLOSIVES. 



By William Cullen. 



Since my last communication on this subject* a great deal 

 of work has been done, mainly by myself and assistants, and 

 public interest has been aroused, not only in the Transvaal, 

 but all over the world. Indeed, the Government of the Com 

 monwealth of Australia and many private individuals are now 

 carrying" out investigations on somewhat similar lines to my 

 own, and one can only hope and trust that legislation will 

 result. So far as the Union of South Africa is concerned 

 there is every prospect that legislation bearing on the question 

 of ventilation will be introduced at an early date, as the report 

 of "The Mining" Regulations Commission " (Transvaal), which 

 has just been issued, has awakened the public conscience to 

 a sense of its duty. Matters cannot now remain as thev^ were 

 and it must be the bounden duty of all those who have taken 

 an active part in the investigations on which that r 2port is 

 based to see that they are not allowed to remain so. The 

 writer is very much gratified to record that one of our i^wti 

 sister societies, the Cliemical, Metallurgical and Minimr 

 Society of South Africa, has identified itself enthusi.istjrally 

 with the subject, and. through the medium of its journal, has 

 kept all those interested fully informed of the latest <ie./clop- 

 ments. 



It is not my purpose in this paper to say anything about the 

 methods employed to determine the very small quantities of 

 carbon monoxide and other components of mine gases, as 

 these have been dealt with fully elsewhere, t but I would 

 merely say that further research has not disclosed any im- 

 provements on them. The investigations on the gases them- 

 selves are not complete even yet, but the work now in hand 

 is of a confirmatory nature and it is not anticipated that any 

 of the conclusions which have been arrived at will be upset. 



Until quite recently it was assumed that a small quantity 

 of nitric peroxide (so-called nitrous fumes) was produced at 

 every blast. This gas has been responsible for the loss of 

 hundreds of human lives in the Transvaal and elsewhere, for 

 its poisonous effects are now well known; but it is gratifying" 

 to record that it is seldom produced in practice at all and need 

 hardly ever be if ordinary care and common sense are exer- 

 cised. It is invariably produced, and in very large quantity, 

 when the explosive is burned, and this happens only when care 

 and common sense are absent. Within the past few months 

 the Rand has been aroused from its lethargic interest in this 

 topic by a series of disastrous " gassing " accidents, which 

 involved the loss of scores of lives, but it has been satisfac- 

 torily established in every case that some explosive has been 

 ignited through carelessness. For the sake of illustration, let 



* See Report S. A. Assn. for Adv. of Sc. Grahamstown, 1908, pp. 63-66, 

 •^ Chemical, Metallurgical and Mining Society's Proceedings. 



