0!S EXI'LO.SIONS 1\ NOVA SO/riA COAI. M INKS— ( HI-I'IN. 



fair auiouiits of illuiniiuiting gas. The average composition is 

 about — 



Moisture ... 1 ^(i 



Volatile couihustiMe matter 88.()!) 



Fixe<l carl ion 50.85 



Ash 5.50 



In conclusion, I may say that the mines here are as a rule 

 carefully worked, — that individual or insignificant ignitions of 

 gas are rare ; that the amounts of gas now visible in the mines 

 are quite small in comparison with the amounts all(jwed twenty 

 years ago; that during this period great improvements have 

 been made in the amounts o^ air circulating, and that it may be 

 the increase in the velocity of the air currents and the larger 

 amounts oi air now mixed with the gas, and the .greater move- 

 ment (jf dust, condjine to render explosions more violent in Nova 

 Scotia than they were thirty years ago, when large bodies of gas 

 were common in the mines, Init existing as diluted greatly with 

 deoxidised air and the products oi comVjustion and breathing. 



When the number of shots tired in mines dusty and yielding- 

 gas is considered, and the variety of explosions or ignitions of 

 dust or gas is remembered, in connection with the freipient 

 malignity of explosions when they do occur, it may be permitted 

 to speculate if there may not exist certain conc'itions (applying 

 to gases) rendering the inception and propagation (.)f explosions 

 more ready at one time than another. To the uninformed mind 

 it certainly appears that in our dusty and gassy mines there 

 should be more frequent explosions when the nundjer of shots 

 tired is considered. 



If any means could be assigned for an increased readiness for 

 dust particles or gas to ignite at one time more than another, 

 ground might be given for experiment. When the existence in 

 mines is noted of tracts of dry and dusty workings, alternating 

 with others dampened with moisture, it may not l)e impossible 

 for electrically induced conditions to be set up in a dry district, 

 as influenced by the neighborhood of a damp and better con- 

 ducting tract, that may at times present unusually favorable 



