The life of George Stephenson, railway engineer - Lighthouse ...

118 LIFE OF GEORGE STEPHENSON. [chap. xi.
air from, this lanthorn, is through such small tubes or feeders." *
Shortly after, Sir H. Davy's model lamp was received, and
exhibited to the coal-miners at Newcastle, on which occasion the
observation was made by several gentlemen, " Why, it is the
same as Stephenson's !
"
Notwithstanding Mr. Stephenson's claim to be regarded as
the first inventor of the Tube Safety Lamp, his merits do not
seem to have been recognized at the time beyond the limits of
his own district. Sir Humphry Davy carried off all the eclai
which attached to the discovery. What chance had the unknown
workman of Killingworth with so distinguished a competitor?
The one was as yet but a colliery engine-wright, scarce raised
above the manual-labour class, without chemical knowledge or
literary culture, pursuing his experiments in obscurity, with a
view only to usefulness ; the other was the scientific prodigy of
his day, the pet of the Koyal Society, the favourite of princes,
the most brilliant of lecturers, and the most popular of philo-
sophers. Davy had not in him much of the patient plodding of
the experimentalist, but he divined science as if by inspiration.
He had the temperament and genius of a poet, which blazed
forth in dazzling eloquence, winning for him alike the admiration
of fashionable ladies, and of learned philosophers, and making
his lectures and experiments " the rage " of the hour. The
press blazoned forth his discoveries and enhanced his magnificent
reputation ; and when he presented his Davy Lamp to the world,
it was regarded as but one of the many brilliant achievements
which his grand and original genius had conquered.
But George Stephenson, though a less brilliant, was a no less
useful and original worker ; and when the merit of inventing the
safety lamp became the subject of discussion, it was only reasonable
and proper that his claims should be fairly considered. He
had risked his life in testing the safety of his lamp, before Sir
Humphry Davy had even formed a definite opinion on the sub-
ject. And though the theory on which Stephenson constructed
his lamp was erroneous, he had proved it to be a safety lamp to
all intents and purposes. He had discovered the lamp, though
* Paris's Life of Davy, 4to ed., pp. 314, 815.