5T0 
So long as the system prevails, of ejecting the gases with 
the return air, and portions of " goaf" are allowed to receive 
the gas as a means of getting rid of it, the recurrence of fatal 
calamities, sweeping off the poor miners by scores and 
hundreds, may be regarded as events of but too sad probability ; 
and although under any circumstances the transition from 
one principle of working to another, of a totally different 
kind, could not be effected save at a considerable expense of 
time and pecuniary resource, the obligation is not less binding 
if the lives and health of our mining population are thereby 
promoted and secured. 
In the resolution of the present systems of working col- 
lieries, two primary objects may be admitted as governing the 
proceedings of those who have charge of their development : 
Economy, as related to the price per ton at which the coal 
can be landed on the surface; and Safety, in the means to be 
employed for its acquisition. 
These two objects press with equal claims for constant, 
unwearying, and devoted attention. But what is the answer 
which truth would dictate to the solemn inquiry — Are these 
claims equally respected ? 
However favourable the reply with respect to the original 
design, Safety in practice cannot be maintained. A thousand 
motives combine (and a vast proportion of them, perhaps, 
beyond the reach of human foresight to control and prevent) 
to jeopardise the question of Safety ; and hence the fearful 
amount of fatality which attends upon the mining operations 
of the country. 
How is this proposition affected, if we glance retrospectively 
at the practice of coal mining, and the steps by which we 
have attained to the methods now pursued ? In early days, as 
we have already remarked, this mineral was obtained only at 
very shallow depths; and chiefly from winnings commenced 
at the outcrops of the seams, where attention had been 
