3.  A “breaking up” shot placed in the stone roof for “ripping,” the hole being drilled at an angle of 35 deg. or 40 deg.  This is intended to open a cavity in the perfectly smooth roof, the ripping being continued by means of the “lip” thus formed.  The charge was 105 grammes (nearly 4 oz), and it brought down large quantities of stone.

4.  A “ripping” shot in the stone roof, hole 4 ft. 6 in. deep, width of place 15 ft. with a “lip” of 2 ft. 6 in.  This is a strong stone “bind,” and very difficult to get down.  The trial was most successful, a large heap of stone being brought down and more loosened.

5.  A second “blowout” shot, under the conditions most likely to produce an accident in a fiery mine.  A 2 in. hole, 4 ft. 6 in. deep, was drilled in the face of the coal near the roof, and charged with 105 grammes of roburite.  A space of 6 in. or 8 in. was purposely left between the charge and the tamping.  The hole was then strongly tamped for a distance of nearly 2 ft.  The report was very loud, and a trumpet-shaped orifice was formed at the mouth of the hole, but no flame or spark could be perceived, nor was any inconvenience caused by the fumes, even the instant after the explosion.

Further Experiments at Wharncliffe Colliery.—­On Tuesday, October 25, some very interesting surface trials were arranged with great care by Mr. Walker.  An old boiler flue was placed vertically, and closed at top by means of a removable wooden cover, the interior space being about 72 cubic feet.  A temporary gasometer had been arranged at a suitable distance by means of a paraffin cask having a capacity of 6 cubic feet suspended inside a larger cask, and by this means the boiler was charged with a highly explosive mixture of gas and air in the proportion of 1 to 12.

1.  A charge of gunpowder was placed in the closed end of a piece of gas pipe, and strongly tamped, so as to give the conditions most unfavorable to the ignition of the firedamp.  It was, however, ignited, and a loud explosion produced, which blew off the wooden cover and filled the boiler tube with flame.

2.  Under the same conditions as to firedamp, a charge of roburite was placed on a block of wood inside the boiler, totally unconfined except by a thin covering of coal dust.  When exploded by electricity, as in the previous case, no flame was produced, nor was the firedamp ignited.

3.  The preceding experiment was repeated with the same results.

4.  A charge of blasting gelatine, inserted in one of Settle’s water cartridges, was suspended in the boiler tube and fired with a fulminate of mercury detonator in the usual manner.  The gelatine did not, however, explode, the only report being that of the detonator.  After a safe interval the unexploded cartridge was recovered, or so much of it as had not been scattered by the detonator, and the gelatine was found to be frozen.  This fact was also evident from an inspection of other gelatine dynamite cartridges