Note 57 — ERNEST ALFRED VIZETELLY (continued 4)

For instance, the horrible experiences of Étienne Lantier in the Voreux pit towards the close of the book were based on those of a miner walled up in a Lyons pit in 1854, and on those of a pitman of the Gard, described by M. Parran, an engineer, in the "Bulletin de la Société de l'Industrie Minérale." That narrative suggested the idea of the floating corpse in the inundated mine.