THE RESEARCHES OF ENTOMOLOGISTS. 
at great personal risk, contribute largely to 
the necessities, luxuries, wealth, of this great 
empire; the immense value of these mines to 
the community ; the loss of life which has 
occcurred and the benefits which have already 
accrued from the labours and investigations 
of scientific characters ; your committee have 
been disposed maturely to weigh the sugges- 
tions which have been made to them upon 
the necessity of having this inquiry continued 
in the mining districts*, by competent indi- 
viduals, acting under authority. They are 
not insensible to the advantages which might 
result from such a proceeding ; but many 
serious objections having been stated to the 
proposition, your committee conclude, under 
present circumstances, to abstain from 
giving an opinion upon the necessity or 
expediency of such a course. 
Your committee are glad to find that in- 
creasing attention is paid to the moral culture 
and education of the mining pojiulationf . 
From the establishment of associations similar 
to the polytechnic school^ recently formed 
in Cornwall, as named by one or more wit- 
nesses§, and the opportunity thus afforded of 
cultivating native talent||, great advantages 
may be anticipated.^ Whilst your committee 
have in the case just alluded to; had pleasing 
proof of the solicitude with which the welfare 
and safety of the miners are consulted in 
many places, they cannot express the sense 
they entertain of the responsibility incurred 
by the owners of mines generally** ; in their 
hands are the lives of a vast multitude of their 
fellow-creatures industriously contributing to 
their personal and our national aggrandize- 
ment. The dependence placed upon agents 
and managers is necessarily greatft, and 
doubtless, in many instances, from the 
characters of the individuals, justifiable. 
The number of subordinate overseers, 
under whatever name, ought never to 
be reduced on any pretence of eco- 
nomy ; a vigilant oversight of these on the 
part of the owners, viewers or manageis, as 
well as a determination to employ none in 
responsible stations who have not recommend- 
ed themselves by long experience, skill, so- 
briety, and habits of strict attentiontf, may 
prevent many accidents. It is the bounden 
duty of these owners carefully and constantly 
to examine into the state of their mines ; if 
this is not personally practicable, they ought 
to call for written daily reports from their 
subalterns, of every circumstance and event 
connected with the proper ventilation of the 
mines. There will, however, still remain to 
be exercised that quick perception of cause 
and effectV§> that accurate adaptation of 
means to the end, that nice observation of var- 
ous natural phenomena connected with the 
state of the atmosphere at the surface and 
under ground, upon which, it is obvious, 
safety must ultimately depend. Every possi- 
ble; exertion should be made 11 11, every effort 
*112509. 
+ 222. 1 205. § 3174.1193. H 1S70. f 3945. 
** 1761.2163.2458.3690.533. tt 615. 737.2230. 
4431.1353. 
41 1803.2063.2960. §§ 3737.1809 1669.1676, 
IIU 1703.2804.3167.3792.783. 
employed to bring the workmen acquainted 
with their individual responsibilities, and those 
theories and principles, both as regards the 
lamps and proper ventilation, upon the obser- 
vance of which tiieir personal existence and 
that of their comrades are at stake. 
In conclusion, your committee regret that 
the results of this inquiry have not enabled 
them to lay before the house any particular 
plan, by which the accidents in question may 
be avoided with certainty, and in consequence 
no decisive recommendations are offered. 'I'hey 
anticipate great advantages to the public anrl 
to humanity, from the circulation of the mass 
of valuable evidence they have collected * 
They feel assured that science will avail itself 
of the information, if not for the first time ob- 
tained, yet now prominently exhibited ; and 
that tlie parties for whose more immediate 
advantage the British parliament undertook 
the inquiry, will not hestitate to place a 
generous construction on the motives and 
intentions of the legislature. 
September 4, 1835. 
The report concludes with a list of thirty-six 
persons from whom communications have been 
received by .the committee, and which, it is 
stated, “ have received due attention.” 
OBSERVATIONS ON INSECTS PRO- 
DUCING SILK, AND ON THE POS- 
SIBILITY OF REARING SILK CROPS 
IN. ENGLAND BY THE Rev. F. W. 
HOPE, F.R.S.,&c.— Previously to entering 
on the subject of this paper, I will offer some 
statistical details, illustrative of the vast im- 
portance to the commerical prosperity of this 
great country, of the few insects producing 
silk. These details may stimulate the ento- 
mologist to pursue particular lines of in- 
quiry ; and may we not hope that the 
result of such researches will be the addition 
to our productive sources of various new species 
of these little labourers, to whom man owes so 
much f— species which might be available at our 
own doors, by the capacity of enduring our 
climate, and thriving on its vegetable pro- 
ductions, and, in case it were necessary, by 
having recourse to artificial means for their 
culture I May we not suppose the manufac- 
turer would find his hot-houses for silk- 
worms as profitable a speculation, with ex- 
tended demand, as the fruiterer does his hot- 
house for the supply of the comparatively 
limited demand for the luxurious desserts of 
the rich ? 
In the years 1822-3 respectively, the quan- 
tity of silk imported for home consumption was 
4,392,073 lbs. and 4,758,453 lbs., being an 
mcrease of 3| per cent, in the latter year. 
The value of the exports for those years was 
529,990L, and 740,294f., being increase of 40 
per cent in one year. The average for ten 
years, from 18l4 to 1823, and the succeeding 
ten years, exhibits a more striking and grati- 
fying difference ; the first period giving for 
annual home consumption 1,680,616 lbs., and 
the last ten years, 3,651,810 lbs., being an 
increase of 131 per cent. 
* 1872.1381.1384.776. 
