34 ON THE FFRE-DAMP OF COAL-MINES, 



twenty-three were killed, it is mentioned,. " that so powerful^ 

 was the stream of fresh air in all the working parts of the mine, 

 that the candles could with difficulty be kept from going out," 

 and " that the persons employed in it declared, that they never 

 wrought in a pit so wholesome and pleasant." In another 

 mine, in which, in the same year, an explosion took place, in 

 which thirty-two men were killed, the general arrangements 

 were so perfect, that it was considered by every one acquaint- 

 ed with the state of it, to be altogether free from danger. 

 These facts seem to shew, that there is no want in the power 

 of ventilation ; and indeed it has been stated on high practical 

 authority, that in this respect no great improvement can be ex- 

 pected *. If these statements are correct, what is principal- 

 ly to be looked for, independent of employing the best method 

 of ventilation, and of a more strict attention to the state 

 of the mine, in preventing any partial obstruction to its ope- 

 ration, is some mode of security against the inflammation of 

 the gas, either as it is discharged from the fissures of the coal 

 in working, or when it does accumulate partially, from causes 

 frequent, though occasional, in their occurrence. 



So far as can be learnt from the circumstances of those ex- 

 plosions which have occurred in the Newcastle and Sunder- 

 land mines, the principal causes giving rise to the accumula- 

 tion of the inflammable gas, have been some neglect with re- 

 gard to the means of ventilation — such as failing to keep up 

 the fire sufficiently at the mouth of the air shaft, or obstruc- 

 tions in the passages or in the old wastes. The latter appear 

 to be the most common cause ; parts of the roof fall in, in the 

 old excavations, or, by a yielding at the bottom of the pillars 



and 



* Report by Mi- Bpddle to the Society for preventing Accidents in Coal-. 



'.ljines-. 



