and it was under these circumstances that a meeting of miningengineers and gentlemen connected with the working of mines in the North of England, was held at the Coal Trade Office, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, on July 3rd, 1852, "for the purpose of forming a society, to meet at fixed periods and discuss the means for the ventilation of coal-mines, for the prevention of accidents, and for general purposes connected with the winning and working of collieries." Forty-four gentlemen attended that meeting, and it was unanimously resolved that "a society be formed of coalowners, viewers, and others interested in collieries" for these purposes; and such was the commencement of the Institute which I now have the honour of addressing; and I regret to say that out of the 44 gentlemen attending that meeting only 7 are now living.

Your first President, Mr. Nicholas Wood, in his inaugural address, set out very fully the reasons for the formation of the Institute, and the object for which it was formed, and I trust that it may not be considered inappropriate if I quote his own words on these subjects, for I firmly believe that the desire and hope of the promoters of this Institute, expressed by him in that address, have during the long period of 50 years which has elapsed since it was read, been carried out, and have met with the accomplishment of the belief then expressed. He stated, as the reasons for the formation of the Institute that:

We may hope that . . . we are entering upon an undertaking which may be of essential utility to the important interests entrusted to our charge, and which may be the means of averting some at least of those dreadful and deplorable catastrophes which have too often been felt with such disastrous consequences to the district and to the sufferers by their occurrence; and that it may be the means of raising the profession to a higher standard of intelligence in literature and science than it has hitherto attained.

The object of the Institution is two-fold: Firstly, by a union or concentration of professional experience to endeavour, if possible, to devise measures which may avert or alleviate those dreadful calamities which have so frequently produced such destruction to life and property, and which are always attended with such misery and distress to the mining population of the district. Secondly, to establish a literary institution more particularly applicable to the theory, art and practice of mining than the institutions in the locality at present, or which are within the reach of the profession in this locality.

We wish the principles of the Institution to be understood. It is an Institution of practical miners associated together to endeavour by a combination of practical knowledge, by an interchange of practical experience and by united and combined effort to improve ourselves in the science of our profession, and by

acting together as a body we may be the instruments of preventing as much as practicable the recurrence of those dreadful catastrophes and at the same time to raise the art and science of mining to its highest practicable scale of perfection in safety, economy and efficiency.*

Having given you the reasons for the formation of the Institute and the objects which the founders had in view, I will now endeavour to shew how far during the last 50 years these have been carried into effect.

During the first year of the existence of the Institute, 143 members joined, and year by year they continued to increase for 25 years, when the total membership reached 971 (in 1877). For a short period after then, the numbers somewhat decreased, but after 1891 it rapidly increased, until this year, 1902, it reached 1,238 members. Therefore, so far as membership is concerned, the Institute has undoubtedly prospered, and clearly shews that there is a widespread desire to obtain the information contained in the papers which have been read and from the discussions which have taken place on them.

The prosperity of an Institute such as this, does not, however, depend upon the number of its members, although financially this is perhaps important; but it is the character of the papers which are contributed by the members, and the discussions which take place on them, that create the value of the Institute, and I think that if we refer to the 51 volumes of our Proceedings, 38 of which were published before The Institution of Mining Engineers was formed, and 13 published in their Proceedings, we shall find an enormous mass of the most valuable information on almost every subject which is of use or interest to the mining profession. Geology, as might naturally be expected, has been a very fruitful subject on which papers have been contributed, mineralogy, chemical and physical investigations, surveying, mining technology (including as it does so many important subjects connected with mining), metallurgy, machinery, electric investigations, railway and transport, administration, statistics, and many other subjects have been dealt with.

In addition to these 51 volumes of Proceedings, the Library of the Institute contains 8,629 volumes and 2,489 pamphlets, all of which are valuable books of reference.

* Trans. N.E. Inst., 1852, vol. i., second edition, pages 13 and 14.

I consider, therefore, that I am justified in claiming for this Institute that, in carrying out the objects set forth by its founders, the members have by an interchange of practical experience and by a united and combined effort to improve ourselves in the science of our profession, raised the art and science of mining engineering to a greatly higher state of efficiency than it was 50 years ago; and this progress of the utility of the Institute and the good work that it was doing was recognized by the Government, for in the year 1876 Her late Majesty Queen Victoria granted to us a Royal Charter.

Between the years 1869 and 1875, five similar institutions to this were formed in the different parts of the mining districts of Great Britain and carried on successfully, each reading their own papers and circulating them among their members, but many valuable papers did not obtain the widespread circulation which their value to the mining industry justified.

It was, therefore,

about 1887 that a scheme was devised for a federation of these institutes and matured in 1889. There are now six Institutions federated together under the title of The Institution of Mining Engineers. The scheme is undoubtedly a good one, for under it each local association still maintains its own individuality, reading and discussing its own papers, but each member of the local associations receives the papers and discussions of the other local associations, which form the membership of The Institution of Mining Engineers, as well as the papers and discussions thereon which are read at the meetings of The Institution of Mining Engineers, held twice in each year. Thus, the information brought before the local and general Institutions is much more widely circulated than it would otherwise be.

There is one important matter which has been brought to the notice of mining-engineers since the formation of the Institute, to which I think I shall draw special attention. That is, the discovery of the very important part that coal-dust, or in fact dust of other materials than coal, plays in causing explosions in our mines, and in increasing the disastrous effect of them.

In March, 1876, Mr. William Galloway read a paper before the Royal Society giving a set of experiments which he had made on the subject. This, I think, was the commencement of investi

gations into the subject in Great Britain, although it had previous to that time been under the consideration of some French engineers. The result of Mr. Galloway's experiments went to shew that when a small percentage of gas was mixed with air, from 1 to 1 per cent., so small as could not readily be detected and the air mixed with dust, when exposed to a sufficiently large volume of flame such as that from a blown-out shot, an explosion of a very violent character took place. After this, many experiments were made on the matter by members of this Institute, notably those made at Elswick colliery by Mr. W. Cochrane, forming the basis of a paper read on November 2nd, 1878, by Messrs. A. Freire Marreco and D. P. Morrison recording the results of these and other experiments made by them, and pointing out that certain descriptions of dust when mixed with air entirely free from gas and exposed to a flash of flame, produced an explosion. The discovery of this new source of danger explained the cause of many explosions which at the time they took place were quite inexplicable, although the greatest ability and perseverance had been exercised to discover the cause. Since attention had been called to the matter, many stringent rules have been put in force, to be observed in dry and dusty mines, and it is satisfactory to know that very few explosions are now caused from this source of danger.

In making this short, and, possibly, very imperfect review of the objects aimed at and the work done by this Institute during the last 50 years, it is incumbent on me to refer to the great part that it took in the establishment of the Durham College of Science,

Although the formation of such a College was not specifically referred to as one of the objects of the formation of the Institute yet it was laid down that one of the first principles of the Institute should be to raise the mining profession to a higher standard of intelligence in literature and science, and this could hardly be done without the establishment of a College of Science. Consequently, within a year of the formation of the Institute, namely, April 1st, 1853, the President, Mr. Nicholas Wood, referred to the subject of the establishment of a School or College of Mines. A Committee of the Institute had previously been appointed in furtherance of the object, and he stated the result of his interview with Dr. Lyon Playfair, the Warden of the University of

Durham, a Committee of the Corporation of Newcastle, representatives of the coal-trade, lead-mining, and manufacturers of the district, and informed the Council that he had the pleasing duty to report to them that considerable progress had been made in discussing the plans and in arranging the general outline of the scheme.

On December 7th, 1854, the Council of the Institute was formed into a Committee to draw up a plan in detail of a Mining College giving the scheme or system of education to be pursued. This report was widely circulated and gave the matter a practical bearing which it had not hitherto attained, and had the result of bringing, on January 11th, 1856, from the then Duke of Northumberland, a munificent offer to contribute £5,000 if £15,000 could be raised for the endowment, or £10,000 if £30,000 could be raised. The Council took steps to make this offer generally known and used every endeavour to raise the necessary funds, but they were not very successful. They, however, did not allow the matter to drop, but continued their negotiations chiefly with the Warden and Senate of the University of Durham. The proceedings of the Institute shew how indefatigable were their endeavours year after year to overcome all obstacles and prejudices which presented themselves to the formation of the scheme. It was not, however, until July 5th, 1871, that the Council of the Institute were able to report that a scheme had been finally agreed upon. This was largely due to the very great assistance rendered by the late Dean Lake and by the large grant of money given by the University of Durham. Thus the present Durham College of Science was founded on October 24th, 1871, jointly by the University of Durham and the North of England Institute of Mining and Mechanical Engineers, and from that day to this it has continued to prosper in a most satisfactory manner, and is now one of the finest colleges of physical science in the United Kingdom. There are at present 490 students attending the regular courses of lectures, and in addition to these there are 1,170 students attending the evening and special classes. Surely this large attendance shews the great need that existed for such an Institution, and the great work which it is now doing, not only in the education of those connected with mining but of those who are employed and likely to be employed in the manufactories of this great commercial district.