482 Sir Henry Ciinynfiliame [Feb. 1'.), 



These facts point out clearly that, inasmuch as most dry coal-dnst 

 is to be found in the roadways of a mine, there will be found the 

 carbonic oxide. The best way therefore is not to be in a hurry to 

 get out, but to retire into the recesses of the mine away from the 

 large roads, and remain quiet. 



It is believed that after the Park Shp explosion, in which 5(5 men 

 Avere lost, all might have ])een saved, if they had remained in their 

 working places. 



The case of Roderick Williams deserves notice. He was a fireman 

 at the Tylerstown explosion. Finding his road blocked by after-damp 

 he retired to some old workings, where he remained an hour till he 

 was rescued. 



On a previous occasion he saAed the lives of a whole company of 

 men by forcibly preventing them getting past him to the shaft. They 

 were saved ; but one man, who was too strong for liim. got past, and 

 was afterwards found dead. 



The importance of getting a supply of fresh air rapidly into a 

 mine after an explosion cannot be over-rated. 



But intelligence must Ije exercised so as not to drive poisonous air 

 into places where men may be in refuge. 



It now remains for me to describe an apparatus which is coming 

 into use whereby men may go into poisonous atnios|)heres with safety, 

 just as divers go down into the sea. 



The idea of a contrivjuice which would enable a man to breathe in 

 a poisonous atmosphere is of old date. 



But the first practical form of apparatus is the design of ]\Ir. 

 Fleuss, who is still living, and has more than once risked his life in 

 trying experiments with it. 



The principle upon which such machines depend is as follows. 



An ordinary man at rest lireathing 14 times a minute, and with a 

 lung capacity of about h a litre, that is a pint, absorbs ^ of a litre of 

 oxygen each minute. But if he is doing violent work he will absorb 

 about 2 litres a minute, and thus require 240 litres in two hours. 



The carbonic acid exhaled l)y a man in this time, is capable of 

 being absorbed bv 2 lb. of caustic soda or potiish. 



Whence, then, it follows that if receptacles containing 240 litres 

 of oxygen and :^> or 4 lb. of caustic soda can ]:>e carried by a man, 

 they Avill enable him to do hard work in a mine for 2 hours, or if he 

 lay down quietly, to live even for G or 7 hours. 



The apparatus consists of a cylinder of steel, filled with oxygen 

 under great pressure. This oxygen is emitted through a valve, either 

 fixed as in the Fleuss, Shamrock, or Draeger apparatus, or else an 

 automatic valve as in W. (Tarforth's apparatus, which regulates the 

 oxygen supply according to the breathing. 



The advantage of this plan is that if a man is not doing hard work 



