106 Rqfe — On the late Colliery Explosions, 



EXPLANATION OF PLATE YI. 



Cycadeostrolus ovatus. 



Longitudinal section of same. 



C. tnmeaiun. 



C. Brunonis. 



Portion of a longitudinal section of same (twice the natural size). 



C. timiidus. 



Four scales of a water-worn cone, showing the bases of the two seeds under 

 each scale. 

 ,, 8. — C. sph(Bricus. 

 ,, 9. — G. elegans. 



*jj* I am indebted to my colleague, Mr. W. Carruthers, F.L.S., for the use of 

 this Plate, which has already appeared in the " Journal of Botany," for January, 

 1867, together with the descriptions of the species which accompany it, to which 

 latter the author has made several additional notes. — H. W. 



Fig. 



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n 



2.- 



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3.- 





4. 



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5.- 



M 



6.- 



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7.- 



III. Note on the late Colliekt Explosions.^ 

 By John Eofe, C.E., F.G.S. 



THE recent deplorable explosions in the Barnsley and North 

 Staffordshire Coal Fields have again called attention to the 

 coincidence of such terrible accidents with a sudden fall of the 

 barometer, by which they are so frequently preceded, suggesting the 

 idea that they may be to some extent connected as cause and effect, 

 and perhaps the following facts may induce a belief that there is 

 truth in the supposition. 



Some years since (in 1848) my attention was called to a well at 

 Whittingham, on a farm then and now occupied by Mr. John 

 France, about four miles N.W. of Preston, in Lancashire, celebrated 

 in the district as " the blowing well." This well was sunk for the 

 purpose of supplying the farm buildings with water, but after going- 

 down about eighty feet in vain, the work was abandoned, and the 

 well was covered with a large flagstone, with a hole through it 

 for the chain used in placing it on the well. It was then noticed 

 that the well answered the purpose of a weather glass, for whenever 

 the barometer fell wind blew out of the well, and when it rose the 

 draught was inwards, and with more or less force according to th^ 

 rapidity of the change. The tenant occasionally put a tin horn into 

 the hole in the flag and then the sound could be heard at a consider- 

 able distance. 



Some time after this I had occasion to sink a well for a cesspool 

 to get rid of the offensive residue from some chemical works. This 

 was sunk about twenty-eight feet deep in dry loose sand, and it 

 was arched over, leaving no opening but a pipe through which the 

 liquid refuse was passed when required. This well acted in the 

 same way as the above, as was soon made unpleasantly evident, for 

 when the atmospheric pressure was decreasing, the air came from the 



1 This communication was sent to the Editor on the 10th of January. From the 

 evidence since given at the Inquest on the Barnsley accident, it appears that the coal- 

 owners provided a barometer and ordered extra firing in the upcast shaft when the 

 glass fell vapidly, so that it seems the eifect of rapid atmospheric changes was known, 

 and, to some extent at least, provided for ; but we still think Mr. Rofe's note deserving 

 publication, as collateral evidence of the atmospheric action alluded to. — -Edit. 



