The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1879-01-25 00:00:00

" 'TIs an'ill wind that blows nobody any
good;" and wtilat the recent hard frosts
have doubtless been a source of great misery,
t) thousands of the necessitous poor, they
have also proved a means of much enjoyment
to the numerous devotees of that most
elegant and graceful, and rarely obtainable
pastime, skating. Few evils, however,
TEIE SCIENTIFIC PREVENTION OF exist, which are not capable of being turned
into positive beueats, by skilful raln • gement.
DISASTERS. Not many towns of the same size as our own
- can boast of a finer pieeiVof water for skating ,
Tr new year has not opened favourably so i purposes than the Heath Pool, and in fewer, ,
a,
far as regards the occurrence of cal:mities 'We grieve to say, has so spirited and '
benevolent a use been made of skating
by sea and land. It nits not many hours
old before the newspapers had to chronicle , facilities as has been done by Mrs. Cochrane.
the catastrophe on board the ironclad .
!As we happen personally to know, at great
Thnnderer, in the Sea of Marmora ; vessels ,
' inconvenience to herself, her family, and her
which have made their way to us from across servants, this lady has' daily thrown open
the Atlantic have testified to the manifold : her magnificent pool to the public at a trifling
perils of that tempestuous sea; and the i charge, the entire proceeds being devoted to
terrible colliery explosion in the Rhondda, ' relieving the wants of the deserving poor.
Valley has once more borne witness to the ' In her benevolent efforts .to relieve distress,
dangers .which have hitherto seemed insepar- , we are glad to say she has met with a hearty
able from the conduct of coal mining oper- response from the inhabitants of the town-1
ations in this country. Indeed, so far as and neighbourhood as has been daily
the general work .of life is concerned, one evidenced by the crowds thronging to the
year very nearly resemblesmanother, and the pool. To render it more inviting, the surface
hours of human labour in many departments of the ice has been carefully swept, by a body
of industry mean the carrying on of a con- of men who have been paid by subscription,
tinnal struggle:with death. Too often is the Iso that the fund for the poor might be left.
saying literally true that men engaged in ! intact. Furthermore, by a private
certain and specific occupations take their 1 subscription, some few of the gentlemen
lives in their hands. Yet the man of science , frequenting the pool have provided several
is ever busy in the endeavour to rednce the ' very attractive displays of fireworks, thus
forces of Nature to his will; night and day j affording an additional attraction and
elaborate and costly experiments are going consequently increasing the receipts at the
on with a view to adding to the sum total of gate. We lay especial stress on the words
human safety; the active brain and the in-- , "by a private subscription" as a. contemporary
eisive intellect never tire in pursuing the ' in a neighbouring town has, with singular
pl,th which leads to improvement, even if it ungratefulness, spoken of the funds collected
cannot reach the point of Perfection. Bat for the poor being " blown into the air" as
in thr ace of all this, Death too frequently fireworks. It is not considered fair to "look
upon•the mine- as well as upon a gift horse in the mouth," but for a stra,nger
' - mat.:Rer; and marches forth the conqueror in total ignorance of the correct details of
' --iths'-.)--pling. all ti p enerp:y and the the whole business to indulge in caustic
. lty larol.,eht to 1)---.? in ;acour of his remarks on the methods of dispensing of
. ~..i,‘ . money to which he has not contributed, is,

,

,
5Pr Pr
iacv..,

JA'U.Y 25. Im7o.

RA. spvc ;al montlis past we have heard a
()Teat deal about the Electric Light, and ex-
n
periments have been made with it upon the
public buildings and important • thorough-
fares of our great towns. A new and more
valuable use •of this remarkable agency is
now suggested. Explosions in colleries are
caused hy the contact of fire-damp, or car-
buretted hydrogen, with a naked light, and
it is to explosion and to no other source that
the large annual loss of life in our English
collieries is actually due. The safety-lamp
is a protection, for tire-damp will not explode
until it comes in contact with the flame it-
self; and Sir Humphry Davy discovered that
flame will not pass through a sheet of wire
gauze until the whole structure of the gauze
has become red hot. In a draught, however,
this condition is easily brought about ; and
if the lamp be not -properly managed and
securely locked, it is liable to leakage and to
other means of accident. Besides it is a mat-
ter of notoriety that miners not unfrequently
object to what they describe as the bother of
the safety:lamp ; constant exposure to danger
makes them reckless of the consequences of
carrying a naked light.; and what these con-
sequences are, many an agonised crowd at
the mouth of a pit has shown. It has been
suggested that a mine might with advantage
be lighted with electricity from one end to
the other, the illumination being carried
round corners and into recesses by the use
of metallic reflectors. A trial of this kind
could be made with the greatest economy.
The steam-engine at the mouth of the shaft
would, if an extra band were fitted to it,
easily work a rotary magnet of sufficient
power to generate the current required; and
the expense of layinz down an insulated wire
through the whole extent of an ordinary
mine would be extremely small. Practically,
when the machinery was in working
order, cost would b., less than the pre-
•-• is= itntl fled. by the safety lamps.
. fa re. s iii Cie up-shaft, and
..;:.ting in qtaings, coal mining
•t• 1.. !e-Pfl = , 7 ag qny ordinary
(1 . i n In, st devoutly

to say the least of it, very ungenerous. We
are authorised to give the charge a most
unqualified denial. It would be beneath
notice were it not calculated to mislead
strangers into the belief that they are not
contributing to the relief of the poor by their
visits to the pool. To our own townsmen, to
whom Ars. Cochrane and her family are so
well known, we had thought a word of
explanation necessary. We regret, however,
to learn that Mrs. Cochrane has been
subjected to those most detestable of insults,
anonymou.s letters, reflecting on her conduct
in the management of the funds. We are
only surprised that in disgust at the want of
sympathy thus evinced she has not closed the
pool entirely. That it would be a great
relief to her personally, we know, and we
trust the general public will show their
appreciation of her forbearance by aiding
her to hand over a goodly amount to the
authorities for distribution.

to b
-tea -y explosion I'as
taken place, nothing has remained but to
mourn the dead, and to endeavour to guard
with renewed vigilance against the recur-
rence of such disasters. The turf in many a
mouldering heap testifies to the devastation
which had been wrought amongst the bread-
winners of the valley, and a mournful addi-
tion is made to the list of occupants of the
churchyard in which the rude forefathers
of the hamlet have for ages slept. In refer-
ence however, to colliery explosions in gene.
ral, it might De worth while to consider
whether something more could not be done
to counteract the effects of explosions as to
prevent them. Were the attention of the ,
foremost chemist§,is. f the day directed to this
object, the result would be of the utmost
importance. By far the greater nuniber of
deaths in coal-mines is due to the atmos-
phere being rendered not only poisonous
but simply unbearable. Carbonic di-oxide
is produced, containing the oxygen necessary
to life, but in a form which human lungs can-
not separate. Modern chemistry ought to
be capable of providing against the fatal ef-
fects of a Merely negative agent. There is
undoubtedly an enormous field open for the
exercise of the ingenuity of the practical
chemist in the directions indicated. To e.
great extent the prosperity of Great Britain
depends upon the working of her coal-beds;
and as each successive colliery explosion
takes place, many peopl3 not unnaturally
ask themselves whether a work which is so
eFsential to the continuance of our national
t--;.istence cannot -be carried on without these
yearly sacrifices of human life now so con-
btantly demanded. Why should a coal
miner always be standing in the presence of
dea'h, .Inl.- more than a man engaged in a
• roc e men in the
• %Old the tradesmen run no

' s

they be re-
fc'r. 77. ? Since
the 'Ty. tianßand the Pllceni.•,.-,•, z ',• -• , ;ito
sea: in. t.-116r'prinval barks ) long ago,
ilttri-41,Wed fOr tin in the i mines of
C'dr!iwali,,a certain propOrtio-1 :,f the labour-
h:is been accus-
• its bread beneath the
sw•face ot the earth: We have been
working itt • •nines for thousands of years,
yet, so far as our colleries are concerned,
the lurking dangers in them have not yet
been successfully encountered. A stagnant
atmosphere is generally the precursor. of In
explosion and of widespread ruin and disaster.
Surely the exponents of the science of
chemistry wili not sit down with folded arms
and declare that the perils of coal-mining
are inevitable and cannot be guarded against
by the skill and intellect of man. Those
upon w om the Tower of Siloam fell were
no worse than their neighbours who were
spared ; and the Coal miner is as industrious
and as energetic as his fellow toilers in many
an industrial occupation environed by no
such dangers as those which surround
Why should he be .the scapegoat to be
turned out into the wilderness for the sins
of the whole people? Human laws award
the punishment of death for offences which
make it impossible for their perpetrator
longer to live amongst the children of men,
yet this last enemy continually confronts
those who are toiline. in an important branch
of oar industry, and who by their labour
contribute to the strength, the glory, and the
sidoty gi th• load. •

4ei!'s,-..0:1 -Q .7.