The air of coal mines.

Date:
[between 1800 and 1899]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The air of coal mines. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.

    4/30 (page 2)
    as it is made by the miner. When made in the manner referred to by Smith it is of more value; but the miner's method is a common one, and in fiery pits often such a fatal one, that some reference to it may be interesting. In talking with miners on the subject, they have told me that about twenty years ago sometimes the air was so bad that if the lamp were unaided it would not burn; but by constant attention it might be made to give out a feeble light, and it was frequently the duty of boys, when too young or too small for harder work, to trim the lamps and keep them burning for their fathers or seniors. This is a rude test, but at the same time impresses one with the idea that the air must have been very bad. Judging from my own experiences and sensations, a very short time in a waste where lamps would not burn was decidedly unpleasant, and one longed for fresh air in a way hitherto unexperienced. The candle I shall yet refer to when the methods of examination are described. Methods of Examination.—In a purely scientific investigation, other methods might have been selected, but the primary object of the inquiry being to ascertain the relationship between mine air and the miners' healths, some variations are made. It must be further borne in mind by those who have not attempted this sphere for research, that they must be prepared to meet with difficulties in mines which they would not experience elsewhere, such as absence of the light of day, limited space to work in, constrained position, risk, and injury to apparatus used. I am happy to say I cannot add difficulties put in my way, as, from miner to master, every facility was given me in my work. The growth of the microbes in Hesse's tubes was an object to the workmen of great interest and of exaggerated importance, as bearing on imagined diseased conditions attributed to these, in so many cases, harmless organisms. Temperature of Mines.—To the meteorologist, an accurate record of the temperature of mines would doubtless be interesting, and I am not aware any have been made. The difficulties and want of facilities for making them are sufficient reasons, apart from the dangers valuable instruments are liable to in mines. The charts I have made are not valuable to the meteorologist, as they neither show the maximum nor the minimum temperatures, but show the temperatures of the wet and dry bulb thermometers at a fixed hour of the day—namely, 9 a.m. The readings were made by a highly intelligent and conscientious mine inspector, whom I instructed and supervised in the readings. The readings made above ground were made by myself at the same hour of the day, for comparison with the underground thermometers. Estimation of Ammonia.—I am sorry to say this was only an attempt, and which for many reasons had to be given up. The greatest difficulty was the cumbersome apparatus, aspirator and bottles with distilled water, and the long time consumed over the process. The method followed was that of Wanklyn, Chapman, and Smith.