292 
MIXESj METALS, AND GEMS- 
from the mines damps and other noxious exha'^^^ 
geUierwith such other burnt and foul f ''' L-te^ jJi 
deleterious and unfit for respiration. In the de ‘ ji 
which are not thus ventilated u'ith curreifis^^ 
which tire not ixiub vuuuiiaLc^i. *»*aaa 
lai'ce quantities of these damps are frequen x j^pg - 
and, in such works, they often remain ;,,e 
.without doing any mischief. But when, 
they are set on fire, they then produce diCii 
and, bursting out of the pits with great lUiP ^ 
tlie fiery eruptions from burning mountains, a, c li; 
with them ponderous bodies to a great heiglu c 0 ^.i 
Various instances have occured in wlncti < 
th® , 
been set on fire by the fulminating damp, 3^' 
nued burning for several ntonli«, 
parts where the conflagration existed. ^ 
collieries have been entirely destroyed, . jvvi''' ^ 
to 
By sued ' 
t .1,,' 
ilUCU L.»LUAAIAJ|^ AV-.* " 
water were conducted into tlie mine, so^as 
vie* 
eouierics uavc u<-«w.n , as '' ,he 1 
Newcastle, and in other parts of ,^ces . 
Fifeshirein Scotland. In some of these P (1* J 
has continued to burn for ages. To 
as much as possible, fire collieries from 
these pernicious damps, it has been found . p,- 
to search for the crevices in the coal whence j J 
at those places, to confine them within ^a of / 
sonducting them through long pipes p., 
where, being set on fire, they consume in V ^ 
as they continually arise out of tire earth, 
The late Mr. Spelling, engineet;_of dai^'^ ti 
into 
,etii‘' 
iiie laic xvii. s^Li^iAAw^A S..A — _ . 
mines, having observed that the fulmmatin:, ^ pj!)!'- J' 
Illy be kindled by flame, and that it was ^ 
I 
such a light as enables them to carry on tlis 
1 i"k rl I /A X _ .n if 
set on fire by red-hot iron, nor by the ®P^^ i ^ 
the collision of flint and steel, ii.vented a im 
steel-mill, in which a wlieel of that me 
with a very rapid motion, and, by the a_ . 
great plenty of sparks are emitted, whicli 
a 
4 
Hal 1- . 
places, where the flame of a candle, or * pes, 
as has already happened in various '“'’^yopli'-’’(,|' 
violent explosions. In that dreadful j) ( 
plosion of the Felling Colliery, the I'l'J*/ 
w-iW. be hereafter detailed, it will be seen n ‘ pj,e 
description were employed, in searching 1 
