THE 



AMERICAN 

 JOURNAL OF SCIENCE, &c. 



Art. I. — Chemical Examination of the Fire-Damp froTn the 

 Coal Mines near Newcastle.^ By [the late] Edward Turner, 

 M. D., F. R. S. London and Edinb., V. P. G. S., Professor of 



. Chemistry in the University of London. f 



The gases subjected to examination were collected mider the 

 direction of Mr. Hutton, by emptying Winchester quart bottles 

 filled with water, at the spot where it was designed to collect the 

 gas, and then inserting a well-greased ground-glass stopper, which 

 was afterwards secured in position by cement, and a covering of 

 bladder. About half an ounce of water was left in each bottle, 

 and the bottles were sent to me packed in boxes in an inverted 

 position. In most instances, when the stoppers were withdrawn 



* From the London and Edinburgh Philosophical Magazine and Journal of Sci- 

 ence, Vol. 14, No. 85, January, 1839. 



[t From the Transactions of the Natural History Society of Northumberland, 

 Durham and Newcastle-upon-Tyne, vol. ii. Part ii.] From the period of its insti- 

 tution, the Natural History Society had directed particular attention to the evolu- 

 tion of gas in coal mines, and many papers had been read from time to time, when 

 the feelings of the public were most painfully excited to the subject by the awful 

 calamity at Wallsend Colliery, on the I8th of June, 1835, described by Mr. Bud- 

 die in the preceding paper [in the Society's Transactions.] At this time an inqui- 

 ry was in progress before a Committee of the House of Commons, which soon after 

 published its report. It was given in evidence before this Committee, that both 

 free^ hydrogen and olefiant gas occur in the atmosphere of some coal mines; this, 

 as striking at once at the efficacy of the Davy lamp in preventing explosions, seemed 

 to be a matter requiring immediate attention in a district where that instrument is 

 so extensively used, and where its safety is so entirely relied upon. With this view, 

 immediately after the publication of the Parliamentary Report, the Natural History 

 Society determined to institute such an inquiry, and Mr. Hutton was directed to 



Vol. XXXVII, No. 2.— July-October, 1839. 26 



