Now! Then! 2025! - Yorkshire On This Day

Excerpt

The accidents in the Barnsley or Thick Coal have arisen chiefly from using single board-gates, when the circumstances of the mine required double ones; for when the latter are used and kept well in advance of the benks [places where coal is being broken from the face of the coal seam], they will nearly drain that coal of its gas before the hewers in the benks come behind. For the “slines” of the coal (lines of cleavage running in the direction of the “end,” or nearly north and south), and which always contain, especially in this seam, large quantities of gas, are thus previously intersected and relieved before the following up benks arrive, so that there is less gas comes out of the face of the coal, and less to escape into the goafs [areas left empty by the extraction of coal]. But if single board-gates are used at 40 or 50 yards apart, they cannot be kept much in advance of the working of the benks – their intercommunication is by means of the benks. Therefore, the slines cannot be cut across much in advance of the main workings, and where there is much gas the accumulations in the goafs thus become very dangerous. There is no person who understands better the ventilation of the Barnsley or Thick Coal than Mr Sutcliffe, the intelligent manager of the Gawber Hall Colliery. He has both the single and double board-gates used, according as certain localities of the mine are more or less affected with gas. He has also a most excellent mode of ventilating his goafs, and which is directly opposed to that now so prevalent of keeping the air “dead” in them; and it is to leave all the “slits” open into the goafs on the windward side, and all walled up on the leeward side, excepting the one in use and the one next to it, which last is kept partially open. Thus the upper end of every goaf and next the workmen is always free comparatively of firedamp, according as the general circulation of the mine will permit.

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See also the embiggened reprint (Thorp 1857). He died before the 1866 disaster.

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Original

The CHAIRMAN then called upon Mr. THORP to read his Paper:

ON THE VENTILATION OF COAL MINES. BY THE REV. WILLIAM THORP, OF WOMERSLEY, NEAR PONTEFRACT.

I shall make no apology for the introduction of this subject before the Geological and Polytechnic Society, as it is certain that the person who would discover any safer modes of ventilation, or even any additional precautions to those now in use, and should succeed in having them generally adopted, would be for ever conferring a lasting benefit upon the mass of our mining population.

Nothing can be more simple than the principle upon which coal mines are ventilated. Atmospheric air descending by one shaft, called the downcast shaft, is made to circulate through the subterranean workings, and to ascend at another shaft, called the upcast shaft. The ascending current of air is rarefied and made specifically lighter than the descending current, whether by the men and animals in the pit, the natural temperature of the mine itself, or by a fire placed in the upcast shaft. And the efficiency of the ventilation of the mine will, ceteris paribus, be in proportion to the heat of the ascending current in the upcast pit. By the experiments of Gay Lussac, 100 parts of atmospheric air, heated from 32° to 212º, expand 137.5 parts; or 180° of heat expands it about one-third. The rate of expansion or rarefaction is not exactly equal for equal increments of heat, but on an average is 1/480 of its bulk for each degree of Fahrenheit. If heat be communicated to a particle of air, a change with respect to that particle takes place in the following manner: it becomes expanded and increased in bulk but not in weight, and in consequence rises from among the other particles, and ascends upwards. The moment its gravity becomes altered, and in consequence is rendered specifically lighter than the surrounding particles, it ascends and passes upwards through the surrounding particles. And the moment any particle or portions of air have moved upwards from what heated it, their places are taken by other portions coming out of the interior of the coal mine; which last portions, undergoing the same change, ascend in like manner, having their places taken by other particles; and this alteration continues with a rapidity in proportion to the heat communicated, whether the heat be that of human bodies, stoves, fires, &c. If air be heated to 572°, it will be half the weight of that at 60°, and the downward pressure equal to 7½ lbs. per inch, into the downcast shaft.

It becomes, therefore, an object of the first importance to obtain a rapid and warm current of air in the upcast shaft, and for this purpose a fire is placed in all mines with extensive workings at the bottom of the upcast pit; and here occurs a difficulty not usually acknowledged by the viewers and over-lookers of collieries. To afford as good a ventilation of a mine as the circumstances will admit, does not allow of a fire of any size to be placed at the bottom, sometimes merely in a fire pan, or in a grate of any size; but the dimensions of the fire and fire place must be in proportion to the area of the shaft through which the ascending current of air has to rise, otherwise the fuel in the grate not being sufficient to rarefy the whole portion of air in the flue, the rising current of heated air is met by a descending current of cold air, and the circulation is thereby impeded. This is a common defect in the construction of house chimneys, and the smoke, met by the descending current, is borne back into the room. Tredgold’s rule for the orifices of chimneys according to the height and magnitude of the fire place is equally applicable to the upcast shaft of collieries, viz., to multiply by 17 the length of the fireplace in inches, and divide by the square root of the height of the chimney (above the grate) in feet, and the quotient is the area in inches for the aperture of the chimney.[Footnote example omitted.]

I know of no colliery where these conditions are fulfilled with regard to giving full effect to the first force of ventilation, for although it may be necessary to use the upcast shaft for other purposes, still if one fire is not large enough, other furnaces might be added.

The mode in which the subterranean ventilation is effected necessarily depends upon the plan on which the coal is excavated. In Yorkshire, coal is wrought in what is called the long method. In Durham and Northumberland, now chiefly in panel-work, the air being “coursed” up and down each panel, and then from one panel to another.

There are two modifications of the Yorkshire or long method, used according as the mine abounds in fire-damp, the nature of the roof, &c. One is with single board-gates, the air being drawn from one to another across the benks where the men are working, and is used where there is little fire-damp. Another with double board-gates, the air being coursed up one and down another, and drawn across the benks where the men are working. There is another difference in working the benks; one is to begin at the far end of the works or towards the basset of the coal, and work it out down towards the pits sunk; and the other to begin near the levels, and work towards the basset. In some pits, also, the whole of the air coming down the downcast pit, is sent in one body round the whole of the workings; in others, one-half goes on one side of the pit, and the other half on the other. It may be true that each of these methods, used only where each ought to be used, may be safe, and that many collieries in Yorkshire have for years been worked under them without any accident; but this does not prove that either of these systems is the best, provided any other can be shown to be safer and equally practicable. The great objection to the Yorkshire system is, that where the whole air sent down ventilates in one body the whole mine, if a considerable explosion takes place in any part of it, nearly the whole of the persons usually perish; the ventilation is stopped, and those who are not burnt or killed by the force of the explosion, are suffocated for the want of pure air. The same objection applies, though with less force, where the air is divided only into two parts; the persons in the one-half exploded must nearly all perish.

To the late Mr. Buddle, of Newcastle, the British nation is under the greatest obligations for devising a new system of working coal mines in panel-work. For instead of carrying on the coal field winning in one extended area, it is divided into quadrangular panels, each containing an area of from eight to twelve acres, and round each panel is left at first a solid wall of coal from forty to fifty yards thick. Through the panel walls, roads and air courses are driven, in order to work the coal contained within each. Thus all the panels, as to roads and ventilation, are connected together with the shaft. The pillars are twelve yards broad, and twenty-four yards long, the boards four yards wide, and the thirlings or slits from one board gate to another only five feet wide, for the purpose of ventilation.

The advantages of this method are:—

1. That the large solid walls round each panel keep off the pressure from the contained coal.
2. That if any casualty, as to falls, crushes, ventilation, or explosion occurs, the locality of the accident is at once known. When the air is coursed some twenty or thirty miles, if the ventilation becomes obstructed, as is usual in an explosion, it is not easily possible to determine where the disaster occurs.
3. If there be an explosion, it will be chiefly confined to the panel where it occurs, and any irruption of water can, if necessary, be confined in the panel.

In the North of England it has been lately discovered that the quantity of air introduced by a shaft of given magnitude can be very much increased by dividing the underground current into several currents, each taking a different direction; the length of the air-courses in well managed mines has been greatly reduced, and is now rarely more than three or four miles, whilst formerly the air had to pass from fifty to seventy miles between the upcast and downcast shafts. It is, therefore, confidently recommended that an air-drift should be made from each separate panel, communicating with the bottom of the downcast shaft. Now the advantage of this is manifest, for besides the greater quantity of air actually introduced by thus splitting the current, the destruction of life consequent upon an explosion is thereby diminished, provided the panels are of moderate size and do not communicate with one another, as to render it impossible to escape to the bottom of the pit without passing through air affected with the after damp. It may be true that to split the current weakens the force of it, but it does not, if the distance to be travelled is shortened, for the sum of the velocity of the divided currents (and, therefore, the quantity of air admitted into the mine) will be much greater than that of the whole united current, since the fire is exerted in a great ratio upon the shorter distances.

It is an easy thing to have rapid currents in the larger air courses, but the difficulty is to have currents of pure air in the benks, slits, thirlings, &c.; and the further distance any air travels the more impure it becomes, because it is progressively collecting bad air.

In order to divide the air, and use it in the workings in separate divisions, and in the long or Yorkshire method, several plans might be adopted. Suppose there are 24 benks on each side of the pits to be ventilated, one-half of the air would go to those on the one side, and the other half to the other. These halves might again each be sub-divided into three portions, so that eight benks would be ventilated by every one of the sub-divisions. (See plate I.) The air would thus be divided into six portions, each serving and ventilating its own compartment; and if an accident should occur in one, only the persons suffer which are in it, and the air will be renewed six times in a given time, instead of once, as on the present system. The only objection is the small expense of laying a double tramway (and a triple one for a short distance) in the upper level; and also of dividing the lower level into three roads and two roads, instead of one. The plan, of course, might be modified, but I contend for the principle as being the best and only safe one, and it is equally applicable in long-work as in panel-work. And if the upper level, containing the returning currents, be divided as in the plate, an additional security would be obtained, and any accident could not possibly involve the whole mine.

It is certain that if, at the Oaks Pit, near Barnsley, where 73 persons were destroyed a few days ago, there had been a separate air course from the downcast pit to the workings south of the throw, a great many lives might have been saved. At the Haswell Colliery, in the explosion, (Sept. 28, 1844,) where 95 persons were killed, it is said that if the panel of the Brockley-Whins-working had been a separate air course from the downcast pit, 30 persons at least would have been saved, and who were not very near the place where the mine exploded.

It is maintained by some that by beginning at the far end, as it is called, and working backwards, or in the direction of the dip of the coal, the fire-damp is left behind in the waste or goaf; whereas if the workings be pursued from the levels of the pit towards the rise, the gas follows the workmen up the goaf, and becomes, towards the finishing of the workings, a dangerous magazine of explosive mixture.

It does not, however, seem capable of proof, that after the coal has been worked out, there can be any difference in the state of the goaf, i.e. whether the coal has been worked from dip to rise, or from rise to dip. The roof will fall in to the same amount, and in the same form and shape in both ways; and when the excavations are completed, will rise to the highest portions of the goaf.

The accidents in the Barnsley or Thick Coal have arisen chiefly from using single board-gates, when the circumstances of the mine required double ones; for when the latter are used and kept well in advance of the benks, they will nearly drain that coal of its gas before the hewers in the benks come behind. For the “slines” of the coal (lines of cleavage running in the direction of the “end,” or nearly north and south), and which always contain, especially in this seam, large quantities of gas, are thus previously intersected and relieved before the following up benks arrive, so that there is less gas comes out of the face of the coal, and less to escape into the goafs. But if single board-gates are used at 40 or 50 yards apart, they cannot be kept much in advance of the working of the benks, (simply because their intercommunication is by means of the benks,) and, therefore, the slines cannot be cut across much in advance of the main workings, and where there is much gas the accumulations in the goafs thus become very dangerous. See Plate II.

There is no person who understands better the ventilation of the Barnsley or Thick Coal than Mr. Sutcliffe, the intelligent manager of the Gawber Hall Colliery; and he has both the single and double board-gates used, according as certain localities of the mine are more or less affected with gas. He has also a most excellent mode of ventilating his goafs, and which is directly opposed to that now so prevalent of keeping the air “dead” in them; and it is to leave all the “slits” open into the goafs on the windward side, and all walled up on the leeward side, excepting the one in use and the one next to it, which last is kept partially open. Thus the upper end of every goaf and next the workmen is always free comparatively of fire damp, according as the general circulation of the mine will permit. As a proof of the excellency of Mr. Sutcliffe’s plan, and the general care which he has exercised over the colliery, he has, at all times, this pleasing and very solacing reflection, that in a period of twenty-four years, in a most extensively worked colliery, he has only lost, by the effects of fire damp, one man! while in the neighbouring pits in the same coal there have been lost as follows:—

Oaks Pit	72, and 3 at a former explosion.
Messrs. Horsfall’s	6, and 3 ditto.
Worsbro’ Park	10
Messrs. Day and Twibell’s	15
Messrs. Hopwood’s	3 at least.
Total	112

But, nevertheless, double board-gates are not sufficient for every seam of coal, since they are in general use in nearly all mines in Yorkshire, excepting the Bamsley or Thick Coal. They are in use at Mr. Smithson’s Colliery, near Wakefield, yet not one candle is allowed to be used in that pit. If a seam be full of “slines,” they may be sufficient; but in several beds, the Haigh Moor especially, there is much gas in the stone roof. Other coal beds have gas in the cells of the coal itself; and others again have very few partings or divisions. And, therefore, separate air courses, with separate roads for returning currents of air, are required, just as much as several separate main drains will unwater an estate better than one circuitous and meandering one can possibly effect.

Owing to the fire-damp being lighter in weight than atmospheric air, there is a constant tendency of this gas, (particularly if the coal bed rises at an acute angle,) to creep along the roof to the upper and higher portions of the excavated mine, and thereby accumulating to form a most dangerous magazine. Nearly one-half of the explosions which occur are from accumulations in the goaf, either from gas arising there spontaneously, or by its having drained there from other parts of the mine; and these goafs become sources of great danger, because they are always ready to add the contents of their reservoir to any small explosion near them, or to send forth their gases upon any change in the atmospheric pressure around them.

To understand the danger of goafs it is necessary to know that fire-damp is a compound of hydrogen and carbon, or one volume of vapour of carbon and two volumes of hydrogen condensed into one volume. Thus in numbers:—

Specific Gravity.

1 volume of gaseous carbon	=	0.4166 …….	0.75 = 1 prime.
2 volume of hydrogen	=	0.1388 (0.125 X 2) =	0.25 = 2 prime.
		0.5554	1.00

This explosive mixture sometimes also contains a small quantity of olefiant gas and of sulphuretted hydrogen gas, and the mixture when pure is about half the weight of that of air; and, as Sir H. Davy has stated, any mixture of air containing from 1/5 to 1/16 of the gas will explode. These mixtures are from 6 to 17 times greater in volume than the fire-damp in them, and evidently not much lighter than air, (0.91 and 0.96.) Hence to take away one cubic foot of fire-damp, is to prevent the formation of from 6 to 15 feet of explosive mixture. When sub-carburetted hydrogen is mixed with twice its volume of oxygen and exploded, we obtain exactly its own bulk of carbonic acid, while water is precipitated, so that a perfect choke-damp is formed by the explosion. Of the two volumes of oxygen, one remains gaseous in the carbonic acid, and another is condensed with two volumes of hydrogen into water.

The explosion at Haswell was from the firing of a goaf 13 acres in extent, the thickness of the seam of coal being 5½ feet; and as the country had not generally sunk in, there was supposed to have been left a vault 5½ feet high, and 13 acres in extent. The coal seam was not quite horizontal, but rose 1 in 24. Messrs. Lyell and Faraday suppose that at the lower edge of this goaf nothing but air might be present, and likewise for a considerable distance up into the vault; yet at the upper edge, a mixture of gas and air, and even a highly explosive mixture, might be escaping: That in mines subject more or less to fire-damp these goafs give out gas into the workings by a gradual underflow in smaller or larger quantities under ordinary circumstances; and some times suddenly, and in great proportions, on extraordinary occasions: That the fire at Haswell took place close to the goaf of the Meadows working, the issue of gas being probably caused by an extensive falling in of a considerable area to the surface, and that the goaf of the High Brockley Whins working increased the conflagration.

At the Oaks Pit, near Barnsley, the explosion took place from a goaf of about three acres, although the Pit has only been working three years, and there are not yet excavated above twelve acres. A man was working within sixteen yards of this goaf known to be full of inflammable air, with a naked candle; and it appears from the evidence at the inquest, that he had gone towards it with his candle, for he was found dead half way between the place of working and the goaf. About one-half of the persons were either burnt to death, or killed by the violence of the explosion; the other half, or at least one-third, were suffocated by the after-damp or carbonic acid formed from the explosive mixture.

The explosion at Mr. Horsfall’s Pit, in Worsbro’-dale, is another recent example of the danger of goafs.

Sudden irruptions of gas from goafs into the workings may be produced by three causes.

1. If the goaf cavity is full to the highest edge level, the mechanical fall of the roof will drive some portion of gas or mixture into the workings of the mine.
2. As named by Mr. Buddle before the Committee of the House of Commons in 1835, that gas from an upper seam of coal, when the strata fall in and fill up the goaf, is often emitted downwards.
3. From a low state of the barometer. Mr. Buddle stated that accidents from fire damp always occur with a low barometer. In the Haswell High Meadow goaf of thirteen acres, supposing the area above not to have tumbled in, and the whole coal space empty, a fall of 1/10 of an inch in the barometer would have forced out 7.550 cubic feet of gas below the edge of the goaf. Again, suppose that the ground above had fallen in so as to leave the air space in the goaf not more than one-quarter of the volume of the coal removed, a fall of 1/10 of an inch would still permit 1.887 cubic feet to issue forth. Hence the goaf, in connection with barometric changes, ought to be carefully attended to.

The method of working the coal so as to “leave the air (gas) dead,” is now much pursued in Yorkshire. It consists in the admission of as little atmospheric air as possible into the goaf, and of confining it to the faces of the coal, and other parts of the mine where the men are working. The goaf is made to follow immediately upon the heels of the workmen, and all the slits or inlets into it are immediately walled up, so as to exclude the entrance of air. The principle upon which this plan is accounted to be safe is this:—That fire-damp will not explode without a certain admixture of atmospheric air, as before stated; so that a candle may be placed inside of a gasometer, and it will immediately be extinguished; and it is said that streamers of gas issuing from goafs thus conducted into the air-passages will readily ignite, but not explode the goaf itself.

If the fire-damp were not an elastic fluid, and did not expand from the causes before detailed, and could always be restrained within the limits of the goaf, then this plan would be perfectly safe. But, as occurred at the gas works at Barnsley, in repairing a drain near the gasometer, owing, perhaps, to a low barometric pressure, the gas becoming more mixed, ignited the great mass, blew up the place and the man who fired it to atoms, the report being heard several miles. And if an explosion to a moderate amount should occur, these goafs add their accumulated reservoirs to the general conflagration. For at any explosion the fire-damp suddenly and violently expands to three-and-a-half times its former bulk; pressing equally on all sides, it drives the gases out of the goafs wherever its influence is exerted, – blows down everything before it, – and expends its force where there is the least pressure, — and usually makes an exit at one or both of the shafts. The state of a colliery in such circumstances was significantly described to me by Mr. Gooddison, (Mr. Charlesworth’s viewer,) by saying “It was always to keep our gunpowder too damp to take fire.” “Yes,” said I, “but if it should become dry enough, or if a partial explosion forces your gunpowder out of its magazine, it at once dries and ignites it, and a general conflagration is inevitable.” Besides, it is impossible to keep, or know that, the fire-damp in these places always contains less than ⅘ of, or more than 15⁄16 of atmospheric air; or whether it is in an inflammable state or not. In mines thus ventilated, no naked candles should be permitted.

There is one more source of danger frequently occurring in coal just laid bare, and particularly in the neighbourhood of small faults, that is, from sudden small outbursts of gas, called blowers. The explosion at Killingworth, on the 16th of April, 1845, is an example. These blowers give no notice of their approach, and frequently emit during the night, &c., a very considerable quantity of gas. It is usual, in board gates, for the men to fire the gas which has thus accumulated; but in the neighbourhood of goafs, or when the whole ventilation of the pit is not very perfect, it is a dangerous experiment.

In conclusion, I beg leave to suggest some methods which are calculated to diminish the risk of accident.

1. I am firmly convinced that no great improvement can take place in coal-working generally without Government surveillance. The trade is hardly now remunerative; all are struggling to bring coal into the market at a low price, and such a state of things is not likely to foster any improvement; but the lives of thousands, and the well-being of the population of large districts, are involved, and it is the duty of Government to watch over and protect these. An absolute rule, therefore, ought to be made, that the ventilation in every individual mine in the kingdom should be conducted on the best principles known; and the safety of those employed should be secured by insisting upon all reasonable means of preventing accidents, and which should be equally enforced upon all.
2. The size of the furnace should bear some proportion to the area of the upcast shaft. This fire being the prime mover of the ventilation, will, if duly proportioned to the chimney, produce accelerated velocities of the air in different parts of the mine. It would be impossible to work 1000 acres with a single pair of shafts, as in the North of England, if, as is frequently the case in Yorkshire, a small fire is placed at the bottom of a deep shaft used as a drawing pit, and from eight to ten feet in diameter. A register of the velocity of the air, measured by an anenometer, going into the workings and coming out of the upcast shaft, ought to be daily made and kept.
3. To work detached portions of coal of a moderate size, so that no air course shall be of greater length than four miles. Professor Anstead says that this plan is now adopted in all the best regulated collieries of the Newcastle coal-field, and I am certain it might be so with equal advantage in Yorkshire. If the work be not pursued in panels, it is nevertheless easy to have separate air courses to and from different portions of the mine. The air road itself costs nothing, and is paid for by the coal taken out. Suppose the whole body of air admitted by the downcast pit has to travel sixty miles at the rate of three miles per hour, it will be twenty hours before it can escape at the upcast jJit. But if the same be split into six currents, each will only travel ten miles, and at the same rate will be detained in the mine little more than three hours. Besides, so conducted, a general explosion is impossible.
4. The dangerous nature of the different goafs in a mine, requires much greater caution than is usually given respecting them. Their boundaries may vary from—
   1. Atmospheric, or barometrical changes.
   2. Falls of the ground, or extensive ground weights, as called.
   3. From irruptions of gas out of a superior seam of coal, however thin.
   4. From a gradual rising of the gas towards the upper and more elevated portions of the mine.
   One side of the goaf must necessarily be open, and it is requisite, therefore, that an active ventilation be enforced against or adjoining those portions which are exposed to wards the works, and in the next place, that periodically, the precise boundary of the inflammable air be remarked and registered. A very simple way of examining the air in goafs, is by having a bottle of the capacity of three or four quarts, made of tin, and having two corks or stop-cocks, filling it with water and emptying it in the goaf, and recorking it at the same place. The vessel will then be filled with air; and if taken to a safe part of the works, may be examined by passing the air through a glass tube to a candle, as, for instance, the chimney of an argand lamp.[Footnoe: Professor Graham proposes an instrument to be used which will measure the velocity with which gas passes into a vacuum, this velocity being equal to the square root of the density of the gas. Hence the exact amount of fire-damp in any place could be ascertained.— See Report of British Association for 1845, p. 28.]

5. In mines where the Davy lamp is obliged to be used, it is necessary that the lamp should be cleaned, the gauze of every lamp examined, and locked before being delivered to the men each day, by a competent person. It is usual for the colliers to clean them themselves, but one defective lamp may be sufficient to explode the whole mine; and at any rate they should be inspected before being permitted to descend. This lamp, I believe, when clean, so that no coal dust will adhere to it, is perfectly safe in carburetted hydrogen, but in a mixture of sulphuretted hydrogen, sometimes evolved when pyrites is exposed to the action of water, the Davy lamp is not to be relied upon.
6. One word respecting the resuscitation of those who are rescued from an exploded pit. All sorts of barbarous remedies are adopted; even Mr. Buddle says before the Committee of the House of Commons, that to dig a hole in the ground, and place the sufferer’s head in it, covered up by earth, is the best plan in use. The mode of death is as follows:—
   1. Carbonic acid enters the lungs.
   2. The blood passing through the lungs, does not give out carbonic acid and receive oxygen, which is necessary to life.
   3. Dark blood, not purified by air, is transmitted to the left side of the heart, and thence to the brain and other organs.
   4. The heart continues to act, circulating dark coloured blood, but its actions become gradually weaker, and in the course of a few minutes cease altogether. The heart is the ultimum moriens, and ceases to act from impairment of nervous energy—the result of black blood poisoning the brain.
   The symptoms of being choked by carbonic acid are:—
   1. Discoloration of the lips and other parts, the result of venous congestion, and of the want of oxygenated blood.
   2. Involuntary actions of muscles; convulsive, not accompanied with pain probably; and caused by contact of the dark coloured blood with the brain and spinal cord.
   3. Attempts at respiration by the diaphragm and intercostal muscles, lasting, on an average, from a minute and a half to two minutes.
   4. When the efforts at inspiration cease, the pulse of the head and arteries is still distinctly to be felt; and the action of the heart maintains the circulation for two or three minutes longer.
   5. The heart having fairly ceased to act, death is fixed; —recovery is impossible!
   Treatment.
   1. If natural respiration continue, leave the patient to himself in pure air.
   2. If the efforts of the diaphragm have already ceased, and there be no attempts at breathing, have recourse to artificial respiration without delay. There is no time to lose. In two or three minutes after the last heave of the chest, the heart’s action will have ceased, and then all hope is over.
   N.B. The artificial respiration to be persevered in even after the normal one is restored.
   In order to inflate the lungs, and in the hurry, persons are not to seek for syringes, bellows, tubes, &c. A tube of any kind is to be inserted into one nostril, or roll up a card or piece of stiff paper into a cylinder, and by blowing through this, a good substitute for bellows may be made. Then the following points require attention.
   1. Avoid undue forcing of air into the lungs.
   2. Inflate at proper intervals, imitating the rhythm of natural respiration.
   3. The inflating tube to be introduced into one nostril; the other, and the mouth, not be closed.
   4. An assistant to press back the box of the larynx, so as not to inflate the stomach.
   For the reasons stated, I therefore conclude that the protection of the mining population of the West Riding requires:—
   1. The interference of the Government, who ought to demand:—
   2. A more rigid attention to the exact quantity of air going out of the mine and into it.
   3. That the coal be worked in detached portions, with shorter air courses.
   4. That the boundaries, and other circumstances relating to all the goafs, be more strictly watched, and duly registered.
   5. That the care of the Davy lamps be entrusted not to the workmen, but to agents of the colliery.
   6. That the most efficacious means for the resuscitation of those rescued be printed, and made known to all the coal masters and coal viewers.

After a short discussion upon the practicability of carrying out the above improvements in ventilation suggested by Mr. Thorp, the Society adjourned to the Strafford Arms, where an ordinary was provided.

5820 words.

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• Accident (27) ·
• 📌Barnsley (24) ·
• Buddle, John (1773-1843) (1), prominent self-made mining engineer and entrepreneur in the northeast ·
• Coal gas (6) ·
• Coal mining (26) ·
• Coal seams of the South Yorkshire Coalfield (1) ·
• Firedamp (6) ·
• 📌Gawber Hall Colliery (1), location is that of Gawber Colliery - see the mid-century county layers - which I take to be Gawber Hall Colliery; East Gawber Hall, West Gawber Hall and New Gawber Hall were unrelated plagiarisms ·
• Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac (1) ·
• Mining accident (6) ·
• Oaks Colliery Disaster (12 December 1866) (2), series of explosions caused by firedamp, killing 361 miners and rescuers, worst mining disaster in England, worst mining disaster in the United Kingdom until the 1913 Senghenydd explosion in Wales ·
• 📌Oaks Colliery (2), Hoyle Mill, near Stairfoot, Barnsley ·
• South Yorkshire (10) ·
• Stairfoot (1) ·
• Sutcliffe, John (1), manager of Gawber Hall Colliery ·
• Thorp, William (1803-60) (1), son of Samuel Thorp of Gawber Hall (glassworks) and Banks Hall (colliery), curate at Womersley (Pontefract) and Doncaster and vicar of Misson (Bawtry, Notts) 1848-60, geologian of the coal measures, writer on mining safety technology and the causes of varying mortality rates in West Yorkshire towns ·
• Tredgold, Thomas (1) ·
• West Riding of Yorkshire (149) ·

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