THE 



LONDON AND EDINBURGH 

 PHILOSOPHICAL MAGAZINE 



AND 



JOURNAL OF SCIENCE. 



[THIRD SERIES.] 



JANUARY 1839. 



I. Chemical Examination of the Fire Damp from the Coal 

 Mines near Neivcastle. By [the late'] Edward Turner, 

 M.D., F.RS. London and Edinh., V.P.G.S., Professor of 

 Chemistry in the University of London.* 



THE gases subjected to examination were collected under 

 the direction of Mr. Hutton, by emptying Winchester- 

 quart bottles filled with water, at the spot where it was de- 

 signed to collect the gas, and then insertmg a well-greased 

 (TTOund-glass stopper, which was afterwards secured m posi- 

 Tion by cement, and a covering of bladder. About half an 

 ounce of water was left in each bottle, and the botdes were 

 sent to me packed in boxes in an inverted position. In most 

 instances, when the stoppers were withdrawn in the pneumatic 

 trough, a portion of water instantly rushed in, showing both 

 that'the means of securing the gases had proved effectual, and 



r* From the Transactions of the Natural History Society of Northum- 

 berland, Durham, and Newcastle-upon-Tyne, vol. ii. Fart n.] From the 

 period of its institution the Natural History Society had directed parti- 

 cular attention to the evolution of gas in coal mines, and many papers had 

 been read from time to time, when the feelings of the public were most 

 painfully excited to the subject bv the awful calamity at Wallsend Colliery, 

 on the 18th of June, 1835, described by Mr. Buddie in the preceding paper 

 [in the Society's Transactions]. At this time an inquiry was in progress 

 before a Committee of the House of Commons, which soon after published 

 its report. It was given in evidence before this Committee, that both 

 free hydrogen and olefiant gas occur in the atmosphere of some coal mines ; 

 this, as striking at once at the efficacy of the Davy lamp in preventing 

 explosions, seemed to be a matter requiring immediate attention in a di- 

 strict where that instrument is so extensively used, and where Us safety 

 is so entirely relied upon. With this view, immediately after the publica- 

 tion of the Farliainentary Report, the Natural History Society determined 

 to institute such an inquiry, and Mr. Hutton was directed to comniuni- 



Fhil. Mas. S. 3. Vol. 14. No. 85. Jan. 1839. 15 



