473 



who were obliged to toil in the bowels of the earth for a 

 scanty subsistence for themselves and families, I turned my 

 attention to this subject, with a view to ascertain every cause 

 of the frequent explosions in coal mines; and after much 

 consideration and a series of experiments, I have been 

 enabled to produce (what I think I shall prove to this 

 Society) an unexceptionable remedy, and a certain and 

 never-failing preventive of the so much and justly-dreaded 

 explosions of coal mines, from fire-damp, &c., by admitting 

 to every part of the most capacious mines a full current of 

 pure air. 



In a copious extract, entitled " An Exposition of the in- 

 secure Nature and Principles of the Davy and other Lamps, 

 as applied to Coal Mining, taken from the Parliamentary 

 Report for 1835," the subject is fully discussed; and in the 

 evidence given by Dr. Murray, Lecturer on Chemistry, &c., 

 as well as other scientific individuals present, it was their 

 unanimous opinion that ventilation was the prime object. Yet 

 there has not hitherto been any system of proper and efficient 

 ventilation proposed, applicable to the numerous mines con- 

 tinually at work in this country. I shall endeavour, therefore, 



1st. To call your attention to the improvement that I 

 advance for the ventilation of the great Newcastle and 

 northern collieries; and 



2nd. To the principle which I consider applicable to ex- 

 isting mines in our own immediate neighbourhood. 



Pjlate XL, Fig. 1. 

 A refers to the upcast shaft. 

 B „ the downcast shaft. 

 C rise galleries. 



S S „ two small shafts. 

 WW,, air-courses. 

 V V „ two five-inch bore-holes. 

 U U „ two furnaces. 

 X X „ two inclines. 



