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

59 a shot. He passes by them on the top of the trouble, when, without due caution or observation—thinking, because it was always clean before, i will be so still—he unscrews his lamp top, and produces the explosion. The principal body and volume of inflammable gas being situated to the west and north of this as its tail piece, accounts for the destructioni and range of the fire with its explosive blast in this district. Not that I say this was the cause of the accident. Neither do I impeach the memory of that, perhaps, innocent and good man, or wish to injure the feelings those he leaves behind to mourn for his untimely fate. But I wis show the possibility of such an occurrence, and also to show the necessity, of all men entrusted with the ventilation of coal mines, being possessed of the requisite practical and scientific knowledge, to enable them to an- ticipate effects from every cause, natural or incidental in the system of mining; and thereby avert the approach of evil or the existence of danger in the vicinity of the workmen. By watching narrowly the avenues of the goaf he would have discovered the advance of the extend- ine volume, and immediately removed the workmen beyonc the bounds ofdanger, conscious that the danger would increase, so long as the cause existed The primary cause of this accident was the slackening of the toacé, the effects of which are the reduction of the attractive power a diminution of the circulating volume of air, and an expansion of the contents of the goaf, hitherto pent up, and rendered harmless »yt weight and pressure of the atmosphere, with an adequate current; of an to keen all clean and safe, under ordinary circumstances, and known to be guided in its mechanical application through the working of the mi , on truly scientific principles, by those worthy men who aided and assisted in the inspection, and who from their examinations gave their opinion for the satisfaction of the public and all concerned. Ihese were men,,to>o, of the highest standing, acquired by long experience and piactica ledge in the system of mining. Although they could not come to any definite conlusion as to how or where the accident did really occur y they were determined not to leave a stone unturned m their e^nations, but if possible, to find out the cause that produced the accident, for the satisfaction of their own minds, and to enable them to adopt a Preve^a' tive for the future good and safety of the miners. You also se h m invite the government inspector of mines to accompany them through the district—only, of course, where the accident had occurred—and that he refused to do so. Thus you perceive that the public ærvant of the country, paid for attending to the protection of the romers, refused to aocom^ny a volunteer on your behalf in the examinations n«^y to remove the mystery from their minds, and to satisfy you and the count! y at large, as ix/how the lives of sixteen of your fellow workmen, weie sacrificed And we are to receive the coroner’s remark as a sarcasn , . does he consider the life of Mr. Dunn to be more valuable than Mr. Forster’s? or does he conclude that Mr. Forster’s skill and judgment b± Xly superior, enable him to protect himself and with him on such adventures 1 The coroner s inquest is nntaibte y . . only place where the talkative theorist can excel to any degree; but t certainly not the place for the inspection of coal uunes. This will