April 22, 1875] 



NA TURE 



499 



sucli materials when uncoiifined (enls to render the miner even 

 more regardless of precaution?, and hence it is unquestionably 

 wrong to foster the notion of the safely of these materials in the 

 hands of the miner, especially as it frequently occurs that the 

 men who use these materials are unable to read the printed 

 instructions which are supplied by the manufacturers with the 

 cartridges for the purpose of guarding against accident. 



It does not admit of dispute that the recklessness of the miner 

 has actually been fostered hitherto by the utter dis'eijar,! of all 

 ordinary precautions which they must but too frequrnlly witness 

 at the stores where the powder is sold or issued to them. The 

 practices of small dealers in gunpowder present illustiations of 

 ignorance and recklessness, if anything, even more appalling than 

 those which the habits of the miners furnish. The manner in 

 which'powder is often dealt with by those in charge of the stores or 

 magazines in quarries or mines, and who have to issue supplies 

 to the men, is illustrated by one or two examples from a report to 

 the Home Office by Major Majendie. As an extreme instance 

 of recklessness the case of a man is quoted who was in the habit 

 of boring into the barrels with a red-hot poker ; on one occasion, 

 the lid of the barrel being thinner than usual, the heated iron 

 was thrust into the contents of the barrel, and the man fell a 

 victim to his very original mode of dealing with packages of 

 gunpowder. 



In some mining districts it has been customary to pay no 

 regard whatever to the suitability, in point of safety, of the 

 localities 'elected for the storage of powder. It has not unfre- 

 quently been kept in large quantities (e-.^. 500 lb. ) in ordinary 

 buildings, quite close to dwelling-houses. Even where maga- 

 zines have been provided, in connection with extensive mines 

 and quarries, many instances are on record of gross ignorance or 

 carelessness in regard to the precautions essential to the safe 

 handling of gunpowder. 



The strenuous exertions of the Government inspectors during 

 the last few years have already resulted in a considerable ameliora- 

 tion of this lamentable condition of things, although the existing 

 state of the law affords them little power to enforce simple regu- 

 lations which are vital to the safety of the people employed, and 

 often of the neighbourhood, but scant regard being but too fre- 

 quently paid to the position of even extensive stores or magazines 

 with reference to contiguous habitations. 



The utter inadequacy of the existing regulations as to the 

 transpoit of powder, s^c. , by land or water, and the flagrant 

 . manner in which even these defective regulations are but too 

 frequently disregarded, are matters to which public attention ha.s 

 been much directed since the explosion in October last, and 

 I which are but in harmony with the negligence and ignorance 

 displayed to so alarming an extent in connection with the hand- 

 ling arrd storage of gunpowder. Thus, the packages (barrels, 

 &c.) in which powder is transmitted to distant places are often so 

 imperfectly constructed that the grains escape into the cart, or 

 the hold of a vessel, where they may become mixed up with grit 

 and be eventually trampled upon. As regards the vehicles in 

 which the powder is transported, some regulations exist with 

 respect to the employment of covered or uncovereii carts with 

 reference to quantities of powder exceeding considerable limits, 

 ' but there is no law requiring carts or barges to be specially con- 

 structed or employed so as to exclude sources of dinger. In the 

 mining districts and even in towns powder is constantly conveyed 

 in dangerous quantities in ordinary carts, which may have been 

 used for carrying stones, coal, or road rubbish, and is often 

 packed with other goods, such even as lucifer matches and petro- 

 leum ; there is no regulation to prevent the person in charge 

 from smoking while in his cart, or stopping at a public-house, 

 leaving the powder standing at the door. Prof. Abel quoted 

 instances of the reckless carriage of powder in public convey- 

 ances, and of the transport of very large quantities (many tons) 

 of powder through crowded thoroughfares in large towns 

 (Edinburgh and London) with little or no precautions. The 

 disregard of necessary precautions in the transport of merchants' 

 powder by ww/tr w.as dwelt upcn and contrasted with the pre- 

 cautions adopted by Government as absolutely necessary, and 

 some severe comments were made upon the practice, which had 

 been common, of stowing gunpowder in barges as part of mis- 

 cellaneous cargoes which include even such materials as petro- 

 leum spirit. 



After referring in detail to the precautions insisted on in the 

 transport and storage of Government gunpowder, and to the 

 effect of recent legislation with regard to explosive substances, 

 Prof. Abel concluded by stating that the beneficial results attain- 

 able by a systematic and thoroughly authoritative supervision, 



by Government insjiectors, of faitorics and stores of explosive 

 agents, if conducted with intelligence and discretion, have been 

 most convincingly demonstrated by the great good whicli it is 

 admitted on all sides that tlie inspectors have already succeeded 

 in accomplishing, even with the very insufficient powers which 

 the present state of law affords them. The favouriie argument 

 of some, that Government inspection must operate misch evously, 

 liy diminishing private responsibility, has certainly received no 

 support from the results of inspeciion, so (ar as the experiment 

 has been tried. It will scarcely be asserted that a manufacturer 

 or store -holder who may have willingly adopted, as suggestions 

 which the inspector has no power to enforce, measures conducive 

 to file safety of life and property, would be careless in the appli- 

 cation of those measures because their adoption was no longer 

 optional, or because the responsibility for their due observance 

 was to some extent shared by the inspector-. This very system 

 of inspection cannot fail to benefit those interested in ditTerent 

 branches of the industry of explosives by reducing the necessity 

 for hard and fast rules with respr-ct to the arrangement and con- 

 duct of works, which might in many instances entail hardship or 

 inconvenience without any real necessity, and by strengthening 

 the hands of factory-owners, and thus rendering comp.iratively 

 easy the proper observance and enforcement of regulations for 

 the safety of the men and the works. It is, however, especially 

 in connection with the storage, transport, and employment of 

 gunpowder and other explosives in mining districts that efficient 

 inspection, supported by the reas mahle power which a well- 

 considered Act of Parliament cannot fail to afl^ord, may be 

 confidently expected to produce important beneficial results, not 

 the least of which will probably be the wholesome influence 

 exercised indirectly, by the force of example, upon the miner or 

 pitman, whose ignorance has fostered the indillerence with 

 which long habit has led him to regard the possibility of danger. 



But although improved legislation, and the beneficial regula- 

 tions thus supplied, may be confidently hoped to effect an 

 imporiant reduction in the number and magnitude of the 

 disasters now recorded as accidental explosions, it would 

 obviously be worse than shortsighted to encourage a reliance 

 upon legislation alone as a safeguard against the evils which lead 

 to casualties of this kind. Punishments inflicted for transgres- 

 sion of the law may engender caution, but the disasters which 

 arise from ignorance are not likely to be importantly reduced in 

 number by legislative enactments alone. 



It is to the general promotion of educ.'.tion among the people, 

 and to the spread of scieniific and technical knowledge, if even 

 of the most elen:entary kind, among employers and employed, 

 that we must look for a substantial diminution of these casualties, 

 which the uneducated mind is but too prone to attribute to 

 accident, and the prevention of which rests, at any rate to a 

 large extent, with those who are at present tacitly content to 

 regard them as inevitable. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES 

 London 



Royal Society, April 8.— "On the Development of ihd 

 Teeth of Fishes" (Elasmobranchii and Telens'ei), by Charles 

 S. Tomes, M.A.; communicated by John Tomes, F. R.S. 



Observations upon many mammals, reptiles, and fishes, led 

 the author to the following general conclusions as to the deve- 

 lopment of teeth : — 



(i. ) All tooth- germs whatever consist, in the first instance, of 

 two parts, and two alone— the dentine papilla and the enamel- 

 organ. 



(ii.) The existence of an enamel-organ is wholly independent 

 of the presence or absence of enamel upon the teeth ; examples 

 of this have been recorded by Professor Tomes and by the 

 author among mammalia, and are common amongst reptiles and 

 fishes. __ . 



(iii.) Nothing justifies the arbitrary division into " Papillary, 

 " Follicular," and " Eruptive " stages ; nor du. s any open pri- 

 mitive dental groove 01 fissure exist in any cr ature examined. 



(iv.) In all cases an active ingrowth of a pro. ess frora the oral 

 epithelium, dipping inwards into solid tissu--, is ihe first thing 

 distinguishable, although the formation of a dentine papilla oppo- 

 site to its deepest extremity, goes on pari passu with it from the 

 development into an enamel-organ. 



(v.) A special] capsule or follicle to the tooth-germ may or may 

 not be present ; when present it is in part a secondary develop- 



