The late Explosion at Corville Colliery. 61 
According to M. Letronne, the date of this Petition must have 
been previous to the year 126 of our era. The object of his 
Memoir is to extol and explain the various peculiarities which the 
Greek text presents, to explain the customs to which several 
passages of the Petition refer, and to form from it some idea of 
the state to which the cast of Priests was reduced under the do- 
mination of Ptolemy. M. Letronne by no means joins in the 
expectations which have been conceived of the advantages of 
comparing the Greek text engraved upon the pedestal with the 
hieroglyphics on the obelisk itself. He seems to think, both 
from the sense and the object of the Greek inscription, that, if 
the obelisk is not of a more ancient date, and afterwards re- 
stored by the priests of Isis, and consequently, if the hierogly- 
phics which cover it were really sculptured on this occasion, 
which seems to him the more reasonable hypothesis, these hiero- 
glyphics contain, in the terms of the Greek text, a testimonial 
of the gratitude of the Priests to the Princes, and not a second 
copy, in the Sacred Language, of the Petition inscribed on the 
pedestal. 
THE LATE EXPLOSION AT CORVILLE COLLIERY. 
Extract of a letter from Mr. H. Atkinson of Newcastle, to Mr. Rippie 
of the Royal Naval Asylum, Greenwich. 
«* You would see in the papers an account of the dreadful ex- 
plosion which took place in the pit beside Mr. Buddle’s, where 
they have lately begun working the principal seam that lies be- 
tween the high and low mains. It was not true, however, as 
was stated, that Mr. Buddle himself went down immediately, he 
was not there at the time it happened; it was an overman who 
ventured his own life in endeavouring to save the lives of his 
companions. You may judge of the quantity of gas which is 
continually escaping from the coal, from this circumstance: Ifa 
hole of about three quarters of an inch in diameter be bored 
five yards into the coal, it affords a constant supply of gas suffi- 
cient to keep up a flame, at the orifice, two inches in length, for 
about a fortnight. There were several such lights in the pit, 
and yet the men were working with candles: although they not 
only knew this, but were also aware that the discharge of gas 
from the surface of the coal, wherever it had been lately ex- 
posed, was so great as to keep the air immediately in contact 
with it almost constantly at the firing point. The result how- 
ever will surely be a lesson to them not to rely upon ventilation 
alone, where they have other means of safety, and where the 
danger is so great,” 
A FEW 
