These various plans have almost all given way to that which is the most serviceable of all, namely, the plan of having an immense furnace constantly burning in a specially-constructed chamber at the bottom of the upcast.  By this means the column of air above it becomes rarefied under the heat, and ascends, whilst the cooler air from the downcast rushes in and spreads itself in all directions whence the bad air has already been drawn.  On the other hand, to so great a state of perfection have ventilating fans been brought, that one was recently erected which would be capable of changing the air of Westminster Hall thirty times in one hour.

Having procured a current of sufficient power, it will be at once understood that, if left to its own will, it would take the nearest path which might lie between its entrance and its exit, and, in this way, ventilating the principal street only, would leave all the many off-shoots from it undisturbed.  It is consequently manipulated by means of barriers and tight-fitting doors, in such a way that the current is bound in turn to traverse every portion of the mine.  A large number of boys, known as trappers, are employed in opening the doors to all comers, and in carefully closing the doors immediately after they have passed, in order that the current may not circulate through passages along which it is not intended that it should pass.

The greatest dangers which await the miners are those which result, in the form of terrible explosions, from the presence of inflammable gases in the mines.  The great walls of coal which bound the passages in mines are constantly exuding supplies of gas into the air.  When a bank of coal is brought down by an artificial explosion, by dynamite, by lime cartridges, or by some other agency, large quantities of gas are sometimes disengaged, and not only is this highly detrimental to the health of the miners, if not carried away by proper ventilation, but it constitutes a constant danger which may at any time cause an explosion when a naked light is brought into contact with it.  Fire-damp may be sometimes heard issuing from fiery seams with a peculiar hissing sound.  If the volume be great, the gas forms what is called a blower, and this often happens in the neighbourhood of a fault.  When coal is brought down in any large volume, the blowers which commence may be exhausted in a few moments.  Others, however, have been known to last for years, this being the case at Wallsend, where the blower gave off 120 feet of gas per minute.  In such cases the gas is usually conveyed in pipes to a place where it can be burned in safety.