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the surface of the ground ; in fact, a touch hole, only much 

 longer and wider than is to be found in muskets or cannon ; 

 through this vent or touch hole the charge is fired, generally 

 by a long straw filled with powder, or sometimes by a rope 

 fuse, ignited by a workman on the rock. The danger 

 attendant on the whole of this process is very great ; in the 

 first place, the hole must be filled with loose stones or gravel, 

 which must be rammed down with great force by means of a 

 metal ramrod ; it not unfrequently happens that a spark of 

 fire is elicited by the collision of the ramrod with the sides 

 of the hole, or with the stones of the tamping stuff : this 

 spark falls upon the powder and causes an explosion, maim- 

 ing or destroying all the poor workmen in its vicinity. 

 Again, supposing this process to have been safely performed, 

 the workman sets fire to the train, but, if this should burn 

 too rapidly, he has no time to escape before the explosion 

 takes place, and he is surely injured by the flying fragments 

 of rock. But a source of accident even more common than 

 this is the hanofinof fire of the train or fuse ; when this 

 happens, the workmen, fancying it extinguished, return to 

 the rock for the purpose of remedying the fault, when, 

 perhaps, on their arrival there the fire reaches the charge, 

 and, exploding, destroys all within reach. These are some 

 of the dangers attendant on the old process of blasting — one 

 which, I believe, daily causes the death or serious mutilation 

 of the workman in some part of this kingdom. 



The pecuniary loss attendant on the old method is very 

 great, but arising from several defects which are completely 

 remedied by the use of electricity and the other improvements 

 I have had the good fortune to introduce, and some of these 

 defects I will point out. In the first place, the touch or vent 

 hole, which must necessarily be maintained in the tamping 

 stuff, is a channel through which a great portion of the 

 exploded charge expends itself, and is therefore wasted. 



