Accidenl at Newlottle Colliery on the IVear. 459 



correctly its divine Author, does nothing in vain ; and can we 

 suppose that the interior part of the earth is constructed with 

 less skill than what we observe in the organization of the sim- 

 plest animal or vegetable ? Or, when we contemplate our planet 

 pursuing its trackless path through the heavens with unerring 

 precision, can we believe that its internal motions are not go- 

 verned by determined laws destined to answer the most important 

 purposes in the oeconomy of nature ? 



Though I am inclined to regard the explanation here offered 

 respecting rock formations as consonant with existing facts, and 

 as reconciling the phenomena of aqueous and igneous products 

 alternating with or graduating into each other, — facts that ap- 

 pear so contradictory to the theories hitherto advanced, — I would, 

 however, willingly adopt any other explanation that may afford 

 a more satisfactory solution' — The Roman poet, after conduct- 

 ing his hero through the subterranean abodes, dismisses him 

 through the Ivory Gate*: and should my readers infer from 

 these speculations respecting the subterranean operations of 

 nature, that I take my leave of them in the same manner, it 

 will neither cause disappointment nor excite displeasure. Em- 

 barked with them in a voyage of discovery, I shall gladly hail 

 the signal for the appearance of solid ground, whoever the for- 

 tunate discoverer may be. 



LXXVIII. Accident at Neivhottle Colliery on the Wear. 

 By A Correspondent. 



To Mr. Tilloch. 



Sir, — I FEEL myself much obliged to you for giving publicity 

 in the last number of your Magazine to the account I transmitted 

 of the dreadful accident which happened at Heaton Colliery, on 

 the 2d of May: for it is to be hoped that the coal-owners of this 

 district, when they see these melancholy catastrophes commu- 

 nicated to the world at large on every recurrence, will at length 

 he impelled from a sense of shame, if humanity has no weight 

 with them, to take some effectual step, under the sanction of an 

 act of parliament, towards providing a permanent and sufficient 

 fund for the support of the numerous widows and orphans of the 

 miners whose lives are sacrificed in their employment. From a 

 motive of con)passion, therefore, I now resume my pen to detail 

 another of these shocking occurrences, which has proved nearly 

 fi"! destructive of human beings as that at Heaton, though in this 

 iiititaate fire, not water, has been the agent of death. Newbottle 



• Virg. lY.n lib. vi. 



colliery 



