NAIOL LE: 
97 
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 1, 1881 
THE ACCIDENTS IN MINES COMMISSION 
"| HE Preliminary Report of this Commission, recently 
issued, affords a rather striking illustration of the 
amount of unpaid work which is occasionally done 
for the public by our busiest men. The Commission was 
appointed to inquire whether “the resources of science 
furnish any practicable expedients not now in use which | 
are calculated to prevent the occurrence of accidents in 
mines or limit their disastrous effects.” In its constitu- 
tion science was represented by the following Fellows of 
the Royal Society :—Mr. Warington Smyth, Prof. Abel, | 
The employers were re- , 
presented by Sir George Ellict, M.P., Mr. William Thomas | 
Prof. Clifton, and Dr. Tyndall. 
Lewis, and Mr, Lindsay Wood; the employed by the 
Member for Morpeth, Mr. Burt. 
Warrant, combined the man of science and the employer. 
He is a Vice-President of the Royal Society, and is 
largely interested in mining industry. Mr. Warington 
Smyth was very properly selected by the Home Secretary 
to preside over the Commission, for his scientific attain- 
ments are supplemented by varied and accurate knowledge 
of practical mining 
The Commissioners set about their work in the most 
thorough manner. “In order to ascertain in what direc- 
tion they could most usefully prosecute their inquiry,” 
they ‘‘ ol tained the best possible evidence on the circum- 
stances under which mines are worked, and on the ac- 
knowledged or probable causes of accident.’’ They 
examined all the inspectors of mines, a large number of 
experienced colliery viewers and mining engineers, and a 
number of workmen selected by the miners’ associations. 
They visited and inspected collieries in all parts of the 
kingdom, including most of those in which explosions of 
serious magnitude have recently occurred. At an early 
stage of their inquiry they found that they must make a | 
series of extensive experiments, “involving much time 
and labour.’’ They did not hesitate, they say, to “enter 
upon these experimental researches,” and “there is good 
reason to hope,” they add, ‘‘that their prosecution will 
result in the development, and perhaps in the settlement 
of, important questions bearing upon the elimination of 
accidents in mines.” 
In the meantime, as these experimental inquiries must 
necessarily take some time, they have thought it best to 
present at once the evidence which has been taken by 
them. 
This evidence is preceded by a very interesting sum- 
mary: One of the most important facts to which they draw 
attention is the great improvement which, so far as safety 
is concerned, has taken place during the last thirty years, 
Whilst the total number of deaths remains almost the 
same, the number of persons employed has nearly doubled, 
so that the fatalities have been reduced by nearly one-half. 
These satisfactory results—as they point out in detail— 
are due to the scientific treatment of the various problems 
involved in underground operations, and to the increased 
care and regularity exercised generally by workmen and 
officials in the daily routine of their work. 
VoL. xxv.—No. 631 
Earl Crawford (then — 
Lord Lindsay), who was added by (a subsequent Royal | 
The body of evidence which they have presented is full 
of interest and importance to all who are concerned in 
this great branch of our industry, whether as colliery 
owners, officials, or workmen. It has evidently satisfied 
the Commissioners as to the direction in which they must 
prosecute their inquiry, and as to the scientific problems 
which still remain to be solved. The source of danger 
which has hitherto defied all the efforts of science is the 
existence of light carburetted hydrogen gas—popularly 
known as “ fire-damp’’—in the coal. Falls of roof and 
side cause more than half the fatal accidents in mines. 
| But a fall of roof never exacts more than one or two 
| victims, and attracts scarcely any attention, The issue of 
fire-damp from the coal may—and often does—destroy 
| hundreds of lives ata time, with a sudden, swift, and 
awful explosion, which strikes a natural terror into the 
whole mining population. 
Wonderful as have been the recent improvements in 
ventilation, which are described in this Blue Book, the 
enormous volumes of air obtained by the best constructed 
furnaces or the most gigantic fans are unable to cope with 
the “sudden outbursts’? of gas, which appear to increase 
in number as the deeper measures are reached. Recent 
experiments made by one of the Commissioners—Prof. 
Abel, at the request of the Home Office, and described in 
the summary—have revealed another danger, which im- 
proved ventilation may, under some circumstances, in- 
crease rather than diminish. From these experiments it 
appears that the presence of coal dust in the air of a mine 
renders it explosive if the air contains a proportion of fire- 
damp so small that it cannot be detected by the most 
experienced observer with the means at present in use- 
Here it is that the Commissioners appear to consider that 
patient research and experiment may be of some avail. 
Fire-damp is harmless unlessit be ignited. The only two 
ways in which it needs be ignited are by the lights used 
for lighting the mine and by the explosives used for 
driving headings and bringing down the coal. If a method 
of lighting could be devised which would not ignite an 
explosive mixture of fire-damp, all danger in that direction 
would be removed. If an explosive or other equally effi- 
cacious agent were devised which would not ignite such 
an explosive mixture, all danger in that direction would 
| be removed. The Commissioners have had the electric 
light introduced experimentally at the Pleasley Colliery, 
near Mansfield. But though they say that an admirable 
illumination was obtained with Swan’s electric lamps, 
they add that “further experiments and a full examina- 
| tion into all details connected with its application are 
needed before it can be decided whether the electrical 
illumination of workings is practically achievable.” 
With reference to the existing system of lighting by 
safety lamps, the Commissioners afford another instance 
of laborious inquiry. They found a powerful blower of 
natural gas at Mr. Smethurst’s Garswood Hall Colliery, 
near Wigan. Here they had suitable apparatus put up, 
and made several hundreds of careful experiments with 
about fifty varieties of safety lamps, for the purpose of 
determining the relative safety of each variety. Not 
satisfied with those, they say it will be desirable “‘ to carry 
on these experiments in further detail, and to repeat them 
in other localities with other varieties of fire-damp.’”’ We 
understand that the Commissioners have nearly completed 
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