Dec. 23, 1S80] 



NA TURE 



^12> 



dence for information that will enable him to avoid all 

 his useless work in trying to find means of " unmasking" 

 or absorbing the gas ; let him take up Faraday and Lyell's 

 report on the Haswell Colliery explosion of 1S44, and he 

 will find his own proposal described in every essential 

 detail, as well as a hint thrown out that coal-dust has 

 much to do with explosions ; let him peruse the copy 

 of the report addressed to the United Committee of the 

 Coal Trade by the Special Committee appointed to take 

 into consideration Faraday and Lyell's report, and he 

 will find the opinion expressed by the practical men of 

 that day regarding the very plan he now brings forward 

 as original. 



But why should he labour through all that mass of 

 reading and more than we have named, when he can find 

 all that is of any value on the subject condensed in that 

 most admirable dissertation, entitled " Rapport de M. 

 Haton de la Goupilliere (Ingenieur-en-chef des Mines, 

 Professeur d'Exploitation des Mines M'Ecole des Mines), 

 aunom de la Commission d' Etude des Moyens propre a 

 prdvenirles Explosions dugrisou "(Paris: Dunod, Editeur, 

 Quai des Augustins, No. 49, 18S0). In that volume he 

 will find an account of all his own plans and those of 

 many others, as well as much valuable information that 

 will prove of inestimable value to him if he should decide 

 to pursue this subject to its legitimate ccnclusion, as we 

 most earnestly hope he will. 



Mr. PlimsoU wrongs the scientific and mining sections 

 of the community when he charges them with so much 

 indifference. In England, in France, and in Belgium 

 there is at present a Government Commission consider- 

 ing the subject of his article, viz. "Explosions in Collieries 

 and their Cure," and collecting evidence which will be of 

 great value in enabling us to approach nearer to the 

 mark we are all aiming at. 



As usual the Royal Society travels in the van, and to 

 our certain knowledge has given the sum of no less than 

 255/. within the last seven or eight years towards assisting 

 in experiments which are being made with the view of 

 throwing light upon the subject. 



Similarly each of the Mining Institutes is eagerly can- 

 vassing every scrap of useful knowledge that may tend to 

 lessen the risks of mining, and especially of explosions. 



Lastly, in Germany we have also activity ; and we can 

 recommend a perusal of a pamphlet entitled " Die Vcr- 

 hiittung von Explosionen schlagender Wetter in Stein- 

 kohlenbergwerken," by Dr. Adolf Gurlt, Bergingenieur, 

 Bonn: Verlag von Max Cohen und Sohn (Kr. Cohen), 

 1880. This pamphlet ends with the following words, 

 in which it appeals to thoughtful miners. We would 

 e.xtend the same appeal to one and all : — 



".So mcigen denn alle denkenden Bergmiinner ihre 

 Kriifte vereinigen um dem verderblichen Feinde des 

 Kohlenbergmannes, dem Grubengase, diesem Moloch, 

 welcher noch fortwiihrend so \-iele frische Menschenleben 

 verschlingt, in Zukunft seine Opfer nach Mdglichkeit zu 

 entreissen." 



If really safe safety-lamps were introduced that could 

 not under any circumstances ignite an explosive mixture 

 of fire-damp and air; and if at the same time the use of 

 an explosive or other agent that produced no tlame were 

 substituted for that of gunpowder or dynamite, we might 

 be comparatively free from explosions. 



Thus far however neither the one nor the other of 

 these desirable consummations has been attained. 



On the other hand, if we could entirely eliminate ex- 

 plosive accumulations of fire-damp and air from our 

 mines we should expect, according to the most generally 

 received opinions, to be able to use naked lights and to 

 fire shots wherever we had a mind to do so. Naked 

 lights we might use under these circumstances ; but we 

 should protest in the strongest terms against blasting in 

 the presence of dry coal-dust alone. The 7ole of that 

 agent has not yet been officially recognised, at least to 



the extent of framing special regulations to assist in 

 deaUng with it ; and until it is so recognised we venture 

 to assert that explosions will continue, and that the same 

 impossibility of explaining them, save by the assumption 

 of simultaneous eruptions of fire-damp in different parts 

 of the workings, will continue to be experienced. 



That this is an illogical method of accounting for them 

 may be gathered from the fact that the Risca explosion 

 of July last required no less than three simultaneous 

 eruptions to explain it. The Penygraig explosion would 

 require one in each district ; but we say this without 

 prejudice to the evidence either diiect or circumstantial 

 that may yet be forthcoming to prove the existence of 

 explosive accumulations in one or more places in the 

 workings. 



In conclusion we would say that the Penygraig explo- 

 sion cannot be explained by the fire-damp hypothesis 

 alone ; explosive accumulations may have been accident- 

 ally ignited by a shot, or by a defective safety-lamp, and 

 so have originated the explosion ; but something else 

 than fire-damp, something whose presence was entirely 

 ignored, took up the flame, carried it to the innermost 

 and to the most extreme limits of the workings, and was 

 in all probability the cause of 90 per cent, or more of the 

 deaths that ensued. Need we state our absolute convic- 

 tion that that obscure agent was coal-dust ? 



W\ Galloway 



COL. PRSHEVALSKYS' RECENT JOURNEY 



THE new number of the Izvcstia of the Russian Geo. 

 graphical Society contains the long-expected letters 

 from Col. Prshevalsky on his adventurous journey on the 

 frontier of Tibet. We hav'e already referred to Col. 

 Prshevalsky's work ; the following further details will be 

 of interest :— His last news were dated from Kami, 

 whence he proposed to go south-east to Tsaidam. But it 

 was impossible to find a guide : a Chinese, given for this 

 purpose by the Hami authorities, left the expedition some 

 fifty miles from the town, after having led the travellers 

 into a region full of great ravines. M. Prshevalsky, 

 confident in his eleven companions, resolved to find his 

 way himself by sending every day two men on horseback 

 for distances of thirty and fifty miles round to discover 

 the best direction. The advance was very slow, and the 

 travellers spent one month and a half in the mountains 

 south of Sa-djeou, discovering the high mountain-ranges 

 to which they gave the names of Humboldt and Ritter. 

 After a march of 190 miles they arrived at Kourlyk in the 

 Tsaidam, but here also they were badly received, and 

 could not find guides, owing to the secret influence of 

 the Chinese. Finally M. Prshevalsky told the chief of 

 Kourlyk that he would take him as guide to Tibet if 

 another guide could not be found, and on the following 

 day the guide was found. 



On September 24 the travellers left Tsaidam. Again 

 the guide led them into impracticable tracts near to the 

 Blue River, so that M. Prshevalsky's expedition was 

 compelled again to seek its own way. After having 

 crossed the Blue River at its sources, they climbed the 

 high plateau of Tan-la, after having crossed the 16,800 

 feet high pass across the border-range, which was covered 

 with snow in October. On the passage they were attacked 

 by the nomad tribe of Egrays, but the companions of 

 ^I. Prshevalsky gave them a hot reception, and the Egrays 

 fled, leaving four killed and several wounded. 



Descending from the Tan-la ridge, the expedition con- 

 tinued its w.ay to Lassa , but at the Nabchou settlement, 

 160 miles distant from the capital of the Dalai-Lama, they 

 were met by Tibctians, who declared that the expedition 

 could not be allowed to go further without a permission 

 from the Lassa authorities ; a thousand soldiers were 

 assembled at Nabchou. M. Prshevalsky gave his 

 consent to await an answer fro:n Lassa, and stayed at 



