SCIENCE 



FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 1887. 



The number of persons who have been killed by explosions 

 in mines during the past fifty years is 1 1,000, as stated by Mr. 

 Ellis Lever in a recent number of the London Times. This num- 

 ber is, however, only a small proportion of those who have met 

 their deaths by colliery accidents. The number of deaths 

 through accidents of all kinds in mines since the Queen's accession 

 is nearly six times greater, — 60,000, Mr. Lever says, — while 

 4,000,000 persons have been maimed or otherwise injured. Mr. 

 Burt, M.P., an undoubted authority, states that the average num- 

 ber of those killed in mining operations is now 1,200 a year, and 

 that 100,000 persons annually are injured in following the hazard- 

 ous occupation of the miner. What are the causes which conduce 

 to this terrible loss of human life? Mr. Lever says the want of a 

 better and safer light is mainly responsible. The Royal Commis- 

 sion on Accidents in Mines has condemned as unsafe the lamps of 

 Davy, Clancy, and Stephenson. The House of Commons con- 

 firmed the conclusions arrived at by the royal commissioners, and 

 government inspectors of mines are now advocating and hoping 

 for the immediate and universal introduction of the electric light 

 into coal-mines. This state of affairs leads the English Electrical 

 Review to say that it is to the electric light that the miner must 

 look for emancipation from many of the horrible dangers to which 

 he is subject. There are many forms of electric lamps now com- 

 peting for the favor of miners and mine inspectors, and some of 

 them possess undoubted advantages over the older types of safety- 

 lamps. But there are also, in most of these, serious drawbacks 

 which prevent their speedy introduction to mine uses. Weight, 

 complication, and cost are among the principal disadvantages ; and 

 it behooves electricians to give their utmost thought to the task of 

 overcoming the difficulties which the peculiar needs of the miner 

 present. We have it on the testimony of Sir Frederick Abel that 

 ver}' great progress has been made towards providing the miner 

 with a thoroughly safe, sufficiently portable, and generally efficient 

 self-contained electric lamp since the Royal Commission submitted 

 its final report ; but the same authority is of opinion that strenuous 

 exertions are yet needed before the comparatively heavy first cost 

 of electric lamps will be so greatly counterbalanced by their dura- 

 bility and simplicity in construction and maintenance as to afford 

 hope of their being generally or even very extensively substituted 

 for oil-lamps. So that it is evident that the electrician is, in this 

 direction as in many others, still behind the needs of the age, and 

 behind what is expected of him. 



AN EARLY MAP OF THE FAR WEST. 

 The classic transcontinental expedition of Captains Lewis and 

 Clarke, under instructions of President Jefferson to cross the plains 

 and mountains to the Pacific Ocean, left the Mississippi on their 

 venturesome journey, May 14, 1804. Their first winter encamp- 

 ment was made among the Mandan Indian villages, not far from 

 the present site of the town of Bismarck. During the winter of 

 1804-05 their time was mainly occupied in preparation for the con- 

 tinuation of their journey westward. They were in frequent com- 

 munication with the Indians, and received occasional visits from a 

 few straggling French voyageurs and traders of the North-west 

 Fur Company, who came from their headquarters in Canada as far 

 as the Missouri. On the eve of the departure of the expedition, the 

 following spring. Captain Lewis sent back a number of men with 

 despatches, journals, and collections addressed to the government 

 at Washington. 



Among the articles forwarded was a map, prepared by Captain 

 Lewis from all available data, of the country lying between the 

 Mississippi River and the Pacific Ocean. The information obtained 

 of the country to the westward of their winter quarters was for the 

 most part derived from Indians more or less acquainted with the 

 country near the head waters of the Missouri and Columbia. 



In a letter of transmittal to President Jefferson, dated Fort Man- 

 dan, April 7, 1805, Captain Lewis says, " The map which has been 

 forwarded to the secretary of war will give you the idea we enter- 

 tain of the connection of these rivers, which has been formed from the 

 corresponding testimony of a number of Indians who have visited 

 that country, and who have been separately and carefully examined 

 on that subject, and we therefore think it entitled to some degree 

 of confidence." In a following paragraph, he adds, " You may 

 therefore expect me to meet you at Montachello in September, 1806. 

 On our return we shall probably pass down the Yellowstone River, 

 which, from Indian information, waters one of the finest portions of 

 this continent." 



On Feb. 19, 1806, President Jefferson, in a message to Congress 

 communicating the discoveries of Lewis, says, " During his stay 

 among the Mandans, he had been able to lay down the Missouri, 

 according to courses and distances taken on his passage up it, cor- 

 rected by frequent observations of longitude and latitude ; and to 

 add to the actual survey of this portion of the river, a general map 

 of the country between the Mississippi and Pacific, from the thirty- 

 fourth to the fifty-fourth degrees of latitude. . . . Copies of this map 

 are now presented to both houses of Congress." 



After despatching the party for the return trip, the main body of 

 the expedition crossed the mountains, wintered near the mouth of 

 the Columbia, and, returning, reached St. Louis in September the 

 following year. 



As is well known, they brought back a large amount of most 

 valuabte geographical knowledge. In the map compiled by Captain 

 Clarke, published in the authorized editions of the history of the 

 expedition (Philadelphia and London, 1814), the main features of 

 the country are in very many essential particulars different from 

 the way they were originally represented on the preliminary map 

 forwarded from Fort Mandan. The map was never ordered by 

 Congress, and, so far as I can ascertain, was never published. 

 It seems quite probable that after the return of the expedition 

 means may have been taken to suppress so erroneous a production. 

 At all events, no mention is made of this map in the published his- 

 tory of the expedition. In their journal they say, " At the same 

 time that we took our departure, our barge, manned with seven 

 soldiers, two Frenchmen, and Mr. Gravelines as pilot, sailed for the 

 United States loaded with our presents and despatches." 



To-day, however, the original drawing has considerable historic 

 interest, as it gives the opinions of the highest authorities of the 

 time upon the physical geography of the country and its inhabitants, 

 and at the same time presents a clear idea of the value of the aid 

 thev received from Indian guides and others. 



One of the copies of this map has been preserved in the Archives 

 of the War Department, and through the courtesy of Gen. J. C. 

 Duane, chief of engineers, I have been able to photograph it for re- 

 production. 



The only public reference to this map which has come to my 

 attention is a short editorial notice in the Medical Reposito7y, New 

 York, 1806. The journal was edited by Dr. Samuel Latham 

 Mitchell, who was also a member of the House of Representatives. 

 While in Congress, he served upon the Committee on Commerce 

 and Manufactures, and in that capacity advocated all measures for 

 the exploration of the Louisiana Purchase. There is evidence to show 

 that he was one of the pioneers in Congress in favor of the explora- 

 tion of the Far West by the general government. A copy of the 

 map accompanies this communication. It was reproduced for 



