After waiting a little while, his comrades called to know
why he was so long, but received no answer; upon
which another man slid down the rope to see what
was the matter. The men at the surface called again,
but both below were speechless. The awful truth was
then suspected, foul air had been generated in the
bottom of the shaft, it is thought by the gas from the
coals burning at the engine. Means were immediately
resorted to to dispel it, and the two men were soon
brought to the surface, but both quite dead.

A Fatal Accident on the North Kent Railway took
place on Saturday night, the 24th inst. When the train
arrived from Woolwich at London Bridge Station, one
of the guards discovered his fellow, Walter Chamberlain,
lying on the top of one of the carriages with his leg
broken, and otherwise injured. He was immediately
put on a stretcher and conveyed to St. Thomas's Hospital,
but died before he reached it. An inquest on his body
found a verdict of Accidental Death.

Three Lives have been Lost by a Dreadful Accident
at Norwich. On the 24th inst., Messrs. Smith, chemists
and druggists, received an order for two gallons of
naphtha. Robert Curtiss, an assistant in the
warehouse, gave orders to a porter, named Henry Nichols,
to "put up" the quantity of naphtha immediately, it
being a rule of the establishment that articles of that
inflammable sort should not be packed or interfered
with by candlelight. Nichols did not put up the naphtha
when he was told, but after dusk he went with a lighted
candle, accompanied by two lads, named John Godbolt
and Thomas Lamb, into an outhouse in the garden,
where the naphtha was kept. While they were emptying
the quantity of naphtha required from a large into a
smaller vessel, it was ignited. A terrible explosion
ensued, and the two lads were instantly burned to
death. Nichols was also dreadfully burnt, but he lived
till the following morning. Robert Curtiss, who was
in the laboratory at the time of the explosion, heard it,
and ran to the outhouse where the naphtha was kept,
and saw that it was filled with flame. He broke several
panes of glass, and called loudly for assistance. Several
persons came to the spot, and the door of the house was
forced open, and the bodies of the two lads were found
quite charred. Nichols was conveyed to the hospital,
where, in spite of every attention, he lingered in great
agony till four o'clock in the morning, when he died.

SOCIAL, SANITARY, AND MUNICIPAL
PROGRESS.

The ceremony of Laying the Foundation-stone of the
Melbourne Athenæum was performed by Lord Palmerston
on the 27th ult., in the presence of a great concourse of
spectators, among whom were many distinguished
individuals. When the ceremony was concluded Lord
Palmerston delivered a singularly able and interesting
address, which has excited much public attention. He
described the building about to arise as one of peculiar
interest; destined to be an epitome of the life of man, as
well as an exemplar of the civilisation and improvement
of the age. It is to contain, in the first place, a
provision for infancy, in the form of an infant school; in
the next place, a provision for the instruction and
amusement of man in his maturer years, in the shape of
a mechanics' institute; and lastly, in the form of a
savings-bank, a provision for advanced and declining
age. Then he took up the three objects of the institution
separately. "In former times (he said) the treatment
of infants was far different from that which now
prevails. Mothers considered—and in some other
countries they still consider—infants as encumbrances
impeding their useful exertions; and the infants used
to be scolded till they cried, and beaten till they ceased
to weep. In some countries, mothers who want to
employ themselves in useful labour wrap their infants
in swaddling-clothes, and hang them upon a peg, as you
would do a hat or a great coat. Now, our improved
civilisation has taught us that we may provide for the
care of infants, and at the same time begin to instruct
their youthful minds. It is, indeed, not possible to hope
that great information can be instilled into children of
from two to six years of age; and it is possible, perhaps,
that the knowledge which is given may not long survive
the period at which it is communicated to them; but
they may, at all events, acquire habits of obedience,
order, and regularity; and habits, we all know, are
most important objects of education—they are the most
durable in their impression; and good habits thus given
to infants in their earliest age must necessarily contribute
to their happiness and welfare in their future life.
When, therefore, we establish an infant school, we are
not only assisting mothers by giving them the opportunity
of following a more useful occupation, but we are
laying a foundation for the good order of the community
of which these infants are hereafter to be members."
The advantages of mechanics' institutions are so well
known that he would not dilate upon them; nevertheless,
it could not be useless to bear in mind that these
institutions contribute not only to the intellectual
pleasures of the working classes, but also conduce greatly
to their worldly comfort and advantage. "With respect
to their pleasures (he observed), there are no pleasures
really worth having but those which are connected with
the intellectual faculties. Pleasures of another kind
may perhaps be valued for the moment, but they leave
no good after them, and they tend frequently rather
to degrade and brutalise than to improve and adorn
those by whom they are enjoyed. On the other hand,
the pleasures of the intellect increase in intensity in
proportion as they are enjoyed, and they elevate the
persons who cultivate them in the scale of human
beings." This led him to set forth the remarkable
difference between our times and times which have
passed before us. We have our great discoveries,—our
railways, tending to render Europe one great city; our
steam-navigation, bringing countries nearer to each
other; our electric telegraph, that splendid triumph of
human genius, the result not of accident but of laborious
investigation and induction. Other times have also had
their great discoveries,—the magnetic needle, printing,
gunpowder; "but (he said) although in ancient times
there were men of great knowledge who invented those
wonderful things to which I have alluded—not to
mention men of science and literature who have never
since been surpassed—yet in those times knowledge was
confined to the few. Now, happily, knowledge is at
the command of all; books for imparting instruction
of every kind are accessible at a price which places
them within the reach of every one; while mechanics'
institutions enable the working classes to profit by the
exertions, bodily and intellectual, of those who have
been the investigators and acquirers of knowledge.
The working man may now, without going many yards
from his home, acquire that knowledge of distant
countries which has been gained by adventurous
travellers, who have traversed burning deserts or
encountered the perils of the stormy ocean—who have
visited the Arctic regions or gone to the extreme of
the Southern world. The mechanic has now the
opportunity of acquiring the result of laborious exertions
without ever stirring from his home. The mechanic
has now, also, the means of applying to his own
purposes all that knowledge which men of deep science
have gained by laborious processes, whether in
chemistry, or mechanics, or in any other branch of
science; and he is enabled to profit at a small expense
from the investigations which have been so laboriously
pursued by others. The mechanic is also by these
institutions let into the secrets of nature, the
contemplation of which tends to elevate the mind; and while,
on the one hand, it teaches every man how insignificant
a portion he is of that great universe which is opened
up to him, on the other hand it must also tend to
render him more contented with his lot, and more
resigned to bear any evils which Providence in its
wisdom may ordain him to suffer. The mechanic,
in his small room, by the library which is now placed
at his command, is enabled to ascertain the wonderful
fact, that insects too small to be seen by the
naked eye are yet formed with all the complicated
apparatus of larger beings; that although we
cannot see them, they yet have joints, limbs, and veins,
blood which circulates, and lungs which breathe; that
they are constructed, although with a minuteness which