2. Presuming that the charge has a mis-fire, and going too soon to investigate it. 3. Tamping too tightly near the explosive charge. 4. Forcing cartridge into too small a hole or using a metal tamping rod. 5. Thawing dynamite before an open fire, blacksmith’s forge, in an oven, or by the heat of the sun’s rays through window glass. Detonators. A Few Causes of Accidents with Detonators. 1. Attempting to draw a wire from an electric detonator. 2. Attaching a fuse to a detonator carelessly. 3. Trying to destroy a detonator by striking it with a stone. 4. Finding a detonator and tapping it to see if it is good. 5. Holding an electric detonator in a gas flame. 6. By treading on a detonator a number of them have been known to be exploded in the same room. 7. By pricking the composition in a detonator with a pin. 8. A spark from a miner’s lamp falling into a box containing fuses and detonators has been known to explode them. =Shipping.= When it is desired to ship explosives from point to point by wagons or other vehicles, it is necessary to inspect the wagons and ascertain that everything is in order and good repair, to make sure that the platforms of the wagons and inside of the wagon-boxes are free from protruding nails or pieces of metal that would tend to cause friction on the cases. A bed of straw should be prepared and the cases placed on their flat side, right side up, without any space left between that would permit of displacement or cause friction by the moving of the wagon in transportation. Horses used for this purpose should be quiet and well broken, and care taken that harness and accoutrements are in a good state of repair. Roads should be chosen as far as possible that do not lead through towns or thickly inhabited parts of the country. In wet weather it is necessary that the load be covered with tarpaulin, and in hot weather with white canvas to minimize the effect of the sun’s rays. On reaching the destination, wagons should be carefully unloaded and straw removed to a safe distance and burned. In arranging for transportation by rail or boat, the car or the boat, as the case may be, should be thoroughly examined and not entrusted to the dangerous load unless you are absolutely sure it is in good order. In unloading make sure that no vacant spaces occur between cases that would permit of shifting or friction, and should the entire floor of the car or boat be not occupied with the cases the load should be fenced or blocked in such a way as to prevent it shifting and ensure against friction. Should any packages of explosives, when offered for shipment, show outward signs of oily stain or other indications that the absorption of the liquid part of the explosive in the absorbent material is not perfect, or that the amount of liquid part is greater than the absorbent can carry, these packages must under no consideration be loaded, and must be immediately removed