386 Analyses of Books.. « (Nov. 
come when the mining for coals must be abandoned altogether, for 
want ef such knowledge. Mr. Chapman gives examples of great 
expense already incurred in vain, merely from not knowing what 
art.of the coal-bed had been wrought out. But when the whole 
high main shall have been exhausted, it will be necessary to have 
recourse to the low main. Now this will be hardly possible without 
an exact knowledge of the workings of the high main. Here and 
there considerable bodies of coal are left for the safety of the miners 
and the good of the mine. Through these bodies it would be pos- 
sible to penetrate to the low main without the risk of being inun- 
dated by water; but this cannot be done unless the exact position 
of these bodies of coal be known. 
~ Mr. Chapman has shown that such a plan, though absolutely 
necessary for the good of the country, can never be executed with- 
out the interference of the Legislature. Indeed this is sufficiently 
obvious. The proprietors of the collieries, from mistaken views of 
self interest, are anxious to conceal every fact which they observe 
from the public. Hence it is quite obvious that they will never of 
their own accord form such a society as is described in the pamphlet, 
before us; and that if such a society be formed by others, they will 
communicate no information to it unless compelled by an Act of 
Parliament. As to the coal viewers, they appear to be averse to all 
publicity and all changes in the present mode of working the col- 
lieries. This I conclude from a fact which I certainly should not 
have believed a priori. ‘Though several hundred colliers lose their 
lives every year by explosions of carbureted hydrogen, and though 
they have been expressing a great anxiety to discover a mode of de- 
stroying this gas, not one of them has ever thought of trying the 
lamp of Dr. Reid Clanny, of Sunderland, though a model of it has 
been within their inspection for several years, and though there 
cannot be the least doubt that it would effectually prevent all such ° 
accidents. ‘They may perhaps allege that it is more expensive than 
the present mode of lighting the mines. I should like to know at 
wnat they estimate the lives of 300 or 400 men; or what additional 
expense to the country it is to support the widows and children of so 
many workmen that have perished in their service, because they did 
not choose to increase the expense of lighting their mines. But 
setting this aside, if we consider the damage often done by these’ 
explosions, and the money requisite to put the mine in order again, 
I am not sure if the difference of expense would not be in favour 
of. Dr. Clanny’s lamp. Besides, nothing would be more easy than 
to substitute coal gas for oil; and a small steam-engine might easily; 
be made to supply all the lamps with the requisite quantity of air..; 
Such a substitution would make the lamps cheaper than the present 
mode of lighting the mines; and it would have the unspeakable» 
advantage of preventing all deaths from the explosion of carbureted, 
hydrogen gas. What excuse or apology can the proprietors of the) 
mines and the coal-viewers make for never having made a single « 
attempt to improve the present wretched and absurd mode of light- 
