285 Explosion of Inflammable Air [Ocr*. 



Upon an explosion taking place in a coal-mine the choak- 

 damp is very rapidly driven through all parts of the colliery 

 from those places where it had accumulated, and the explosion 

 is always followed by another commotion, of a still more dan- 

 gerous nature, viz. the " back draught," as the miners term it. 

 The back draught is that impetuous current of air which 

 rushes most violently from all sides within the mine, like M the 

 voice of mighty thunderings," to the spot where the explo- 

 sion occurred, so as to overcome the vacuum which had been 

 effected by means of the explosion. 



The following is a list of the persons who were killed : — 



Mr. William Hope, under viewer, leaving a wife and four 

 children. 



Mr. Ralph Wild, overman, a wife and four children. 



James Campbell, pitman, a wife and child. 



Ralph Hope, pitman. 



Robert Clark, pitman. 



Thomas Miller, pitman. 



George Richardson, and 



William Richardson, pitmen : these two young men were 

 brothers; and, having lost their parents, they had the filial 



foodness to support their grandmother, now in her 103d year, 

 y their industry. 

 By the choak-damp a considerable number of horses were 

 suffocated. In this melancholy list the dreadfully uncertain 

 state of the pitmen is clearly demonstrated. Poor Mr. Hope, 

 the under viewer, was heard to exclaim, in astonishment or 

 despair, a moment before his dissolution, " God have mercy 

 upon us; the pit has fired ! " Besides the sufferers, there were 

 14 or 15 men in the pit, who, as if by a miracle, were saved. 

 They had been employed in a distant part of the colliery ; and 

 after the explosion wandered on in darkness and stupefaction 

 till by good fortune they chanced to arrive at that part of the 

 mine where there was a sufficient proportion of atmospheric 

 air to support respiration. 



The frequency of these destructive explosions, upon the score 

 cf humanity, is greatly to be deplored; the loss to the coal-owners 

 is always very considerable — sometimes enormous ; and as I am 

 given to understand there is at length discovered an effectual 

 plan for their prevention, by means of a lamp or lantern invented 

 by Dr. Reid Clanny, which was noticed in the Annals of Philo- 

 sophy for June last, it is greatly to be desired that this method 

 of affording light to the pitmen may come into general use, 

 even where the chance of an explosion is but small; for 1 am 

 happy to find, upon inquiry, that the expense attendant upon 

 this plan is very trifling indeed, compared with the safety which 

 is insured. Let not habit or usage have any weight here. 



