356 
Accidents through Farm Machinery. 
water in a state of ebullition. According to Professor Airy, 
" the gauge pressure being 60 lbs. per square inch, one cubic 
foot of water is as destructive as one pound of gunpowder ; " so 
that a mere rent in the boiler plate of a common portable engine 
when at work can be equivalent to the application of a match to 
a mine of gunpowder. 
3. Even under the most favourable circumstances there is 
always some inherent risk to the attendant of a machine. Take 
as an instance the feeding platform of a steam-thrasher, with a 
large opening at the level of the floor leading to a (say) 22-inch 
drum, revolving at the rate of 1000 revolutions per minute, and 
necessarily only three-quarters of an inch distant from an unyield- 
ing concave. A hooded drum is safer, but the hood impedes 
the feeding. A practicable self-feeding arrangement would be 
useful for a thrashing-machine. One or two shapes have been 
tried, but as yet unsuccessfully. Grinding bones by the usual 
machines is an inherently dangerous operation. Steam-ploughing 
on stony land is also a little hazardous, as the ploughman is some- 
times suddenly jerked off the plough or cultivator. 
4. Among instances of the use of machinery under exceptional 
circumstances may be classed thrashing by night in a narrow 
barn, by the light of a couple of cheap candles. The use of any 
machinery at night is always attended with greater personal risk. 
When a portable machine is thrashing in the open country, a 
high wind is apt to blow about the chaff and straw and to render 
it scarcely possible to keep the eyes open. In this case a good 
canvas hooding over the blowers and other parts is the only 
remedy. 
5. The carelessness and ignorance of the labourer himself of 
course greatly swell the number of accidents through machinery ; 
although the use of machinery is already so extensive in England 
that they happen but seldom from the pure ignorance of the 
operative. Many can be accounted for by the single word : — Beer. 
A man in the least drunk should not be allowed to come near 
machines, much less to act as attendant. No idlers or mere 
lookers on should be permitted to stand near machinery either at 
rest or in motion. Any hurry or confusion is also an evident 
source of danger. 
The mere action of time is doubtless tending to diminish 
the number of accidents through farm machinery, as every 
year witnesses some advance and simplification of existing ma- 
chines ; but this progress will be necessarily slow, and needs 
some further impulse. The maker has the requisite knowledge 
and skill to make machinery safe ; but he has not the power — 
the competition is too great, and prices are too small. The 
agriculturist would have the power, but he has not the special 
