1822.] 
on our right four miles in length, and 
nearly one in breadth; its surface calm 
aud unrufiled, reflecting, as from a 
mirror, the huge rocks, dark heathy 
mountains, and wooded bauks by which 
it was encircled. To our left all was 
wrapped in darkness by the deep woods 
which root themselves down from the 
hills quite to the road; and the moun- 
tain, swelling gradually from the lake, 
bounded the prospect in that direction ; 
while their bases, which were in the 
shade, were finely contrasted with the 
mantle of light which covered their 
exalted summits. Beneath were the 
dark woods already mentioned, their 
gloom occasionally enlivened by the 
star-like lamp of the woodman’s cot- 
tage; and lower still, in the very bo- 
som of the valley, lay the placid lake, 
reflecting the rays of the moon, as she 
sailed in her loveliness through the 
heavens, throwing a column of liquid 
silver ou the glittering waters. 
———— 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
SIR, 
EARLY twe years ago, I wrote 
some papers for a_ periodical 
work, published at Stafford, entitled 
the © Bookworm,”’ amongst which are 
some suggestions as to the means of pre- 
venting explosions of hydrogen gas in 
coal-mines,and the danger of suffocation 
in carbonic acid gas. A_ short time 
since, a letter appeared in the Stafford- 
shire Advertiser from Mr. Lester, of 
Burton-upon-Trent, announcing a great 
discovery which he would publish in 
that paper, on certain conditions, and 
informing the editor that he had lodged 
a specification of his discovery in the 
Secretary of State’s Office, and the Lord 
Chancellor’s Office, challenging com- 
petition as to priority of claim; and 
saying, that the discovery was the re- 
sult of laborious and persevering in- 
vestigations in coal mines. Supposing 
this discovery was in principle the same 
with what I had published, and which 
proved to be the case, I re-stated the 
substance of what I had written, at the 
same time relinquishing all claims of 
reward, to Mr. Lester. However, con- 
ceiving the matter of consequence, I 
was desirous of giving it publicity in 
water in Penthlinn, called Thlintegit, or 
Pemblemere, and all the pasture of the 
said land of Penthlinn.’ This was wit- 
nessed by Reimer, (who was Bishop of St. 
Asaph from 1168 to 1224) and by Ithail, 
Owen's chaplain.” — Zours in. Wales, 
Vol. LI. p. 213. 
Prevention of Explosions in Coal Mines. 
115 
the Monthly Magazine, but wanting 
confidence from not having practical 
knowledge, I wrote to- the proprietors 
ef the coal mine near Newcastle, in 
which fifty-two men were killed some 
time ago, requesting their opinion. I 
have not been honoured with an an- 
swer, and am left to my own surmises 
as to their reasons for not answering it. 
Since that, having met with a collier of 
great experience, who assures me that 
Tam perfectly correct in what I have 
published, which is in substance as 
follows : 
In coal and lead mines there are of- 
ten found two kinds of gas which prove 
destructive to human life, viz. carbo- 
nic acid gas, and hydrogen gas; the 
first is called by the werk people choke 
damp, and the other fire damp. Though 
both found in the same mine, and near 
to each other, yet they can never be 
found in contact; the first, being 
heavier than common air, can only be 
found in bottoms and pits, and cannot 
accumulate in any place from which 
water will run off; hydrogen gas is an 
elastic fluid, much lighter than com- 
mon air, and cannot accumulate in any 
place over which there is an opening 
above, into the atmosphere. The first 
is perfectly incombustible, so as to ex- 
tinguish the light of a candle instan- 
taneously upon entering it and kills by 
suffocation: the latter is highly com- 
bustible and explodes upon coming in- 
to contact with the light of a candle or 
other blaze. Now, it appears quite 
obvious, that if the floors of mines 
had in all parts of them declivities to- 
wards an open drain, so that water 
would run off, carbonic acid gas could 
not accumulate so as to be dangerous, 
and it appears equally plain, that if all 
parts of the roofs of mines had acclivi- 
ties towards an open shaft hydrogen 
gas could not accumulate-so as to be 
dangerous. But it is well known that 
the shafts of coal mines are generally 
placed upon the deep of the strata, and 
the work people work upwards into 
chambers or recesses, the entrances into 
which are lower than the roofs, and in 
these hydrogen gas must accumulate, 
and all inequalities in the bottom are 
liable to the accumulations of carbonic 
acid gas. 
I never explored but two mines, the 
one is an old lead mine, which, it is 
said, was worked by the ancient Ro- 
mans, the other is a modern coal mine ; 
the former must, as I think, be per- 
fectly safe as it regards either of the 
gases ; 
