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III. Observations on the Fire-Damp of Coal Mines; with a Plan for Lighting Mines, so as to guard against its Explosion

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 January 2013

John Murray
Affiliation:
Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

Extract

Explosions in mines, from the kindling of the inflammable gas called Fire-Damp by the miners, have always occasionally occurred. Of late they have become more frequent in some of the coal-mines in this country, particularly those in the districts of the Tyne, and the Wear, in the North of England, and have been attended with such fatal consequences, as to have forcibly called public attention to the subject. In an explosion in one mine, about two years ago, ninety-two persons were killed; in another, which occurred soon after, thirty-two lost their lives; in one which happened within these few months, fifty-seven persons were destroyed; and recently, it has been affirmed, that several hundred lives are lost annually from this cause. From the state of the mines, particularly in the accumulation of wastes, the collection of water, and the increasing depth of the workings, there is reason to fear, too, that such accidents will become more frequent. Humanity loudly calls, therefore, on every effort being made to obviate the calamity; and even as a national concern, the immense loss of property in the mines, and the probability which has been suggested, that the working of them must ere long be abandoned, give to the subject the highest claims to consideration.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Royal Society of Edinburgh 1818

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References

page 31 note * It may be proper, from circumstances, to mention, that this paper is printed in the text exactly as it was read. I have added at the end a few notes, (read before the Society at a subsequent meeting), explanatory of the plan, or connected with the subject.

page 34 note * Report by Mr Buddle to the Society for preventing Accidents in Cool-mines.

page 45 note * Thomson's Annals, vol. iii.; or Philosophical Magazine, vol. xxxviii.