Scenes And Incidents From The Life Of A Practical Miner
With A Treatise On The Ventilation Of Coal Mines

9 of every description incident to mining. In referring you to the plans, therefore, let us take our stand at the top of the incline bank, the foot of the straight-up travelling board, and the end of the south crescent. There on the spot, I would ask any man to point out to me the utility of that Regulated Scale in ventilating the workings, even with the admission of returns; but, as I know there was no return to the north, then that scale became the subtle deceiver of its inventor, and must appear to every man of scientific knowledge to have been an ingenious promoter of the explosion; as, for instance, you see the goaf before you, twenty-two acres in extent; you also see fifteen pillars in a parallel line, extending from the Regulating Scale, eastward to one pillar beyond tlie doo£ marked red, on the north side of the travelling board. On the south side of that door was found inflammable gas, which I have marked blue. You will now see distinctly that there was no return to tlie north and west of that door. Then there are twenty-two acres of coal taken out from beneath stratification 200 yards thick; is it not natural to conclude that this mighty incumbent mass will become solid again; and if so, is it reason- able to think that the pressure will act in a perpendicular line from tlie surface, through a vast variety of strata, laid in horizontal beds? Or is it not more reasonable to conclude that it would act in an oblique direction by the leverage of each stratum, and thereby include at least three or four of the board rooms, and standing pillars of coal, imbedding the pillais in. tlw under stratum j or, as the process appears, the uncisr stratum rises to meet the upper strata, when all becomes as close as a box, so that no air can pass through? And such was the case at Burra- don before the explosion. So much for the north side. You may suppose those red marks on the south side as inlets, or open headways to the lesser goaf, and each of them furnished with a door for the use of the putters. Now, when any of these doors were opened, there would be a gentle movement of the air round by tlie face of the whole of the working places, returning to and passing through the open door, and away to the south return crossing; there would also be a pressure on the scale at the bottom, escaping by the same channel, and when the door was shut, a partial stagnation would be felt at the face of the workings with a counter rebound in the air. The hydrogen gas from the north holeing, ever ready to extend its bulk, would expand into the straight-up board, and from its natural gravity would ascend by stealthy pace up to the flat, and there come in contact with the boy’s naked light. This, in my opinion, caused the first explosion. And now, picture to yourself, this volume of inflam- mable gas lighted up in solid flame, and expanding in the twinkling of an eye into 1,300 times its bulk. Thus the explosive blast, and tlie1 „ extraction of the air, form a vacuum on tlie adjacent goaves, drawing forth their contents to fill up the vacuity with hydrogen gas, which, in its pure state, will not ignite, nor support combustion. Again, the air takes its course, rushing onward to some convenient return (per- haps to one fresh made), and as it advances, it meets this direful volume. The hydrogen spreads and rolls over the atmospheric air, like the billows of the ocean, for a pint measure of atmospheric air B