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

CHAP. XI.] ME. STEPHENSON'S CLAIMS VINDICATED. 125
have the truth investigated, and not by any disgraceful feeling
of envy at the rewards and honours which have been bestowed
upon a gentleman who has directed his talents to the same object,
and whose reputation is too well established to be injured by me,
even if I had the baseness to attempt it."
Mr. Stephenson's friends, being fully satisfied of his claims to
priority, as the inventor of the safety lamp used in the Killingworth
and other collieries, proceeded to hold a public meeting *
for the purpose of presenting him with a reward "for the
valuable service he had thus rendered to mankind." Charles J.
Brandling, Esq., occupied the chair ; and a series of resolutions
were passed, of which the first and most important was as fol-
lows :
—
" That it is the opinion of this meeting that Mr. George Ste-
phenson, having discovered the fact that explosion of hydrogen
gas will not pass through tubes and apertures of small dimensions,
and having been the Jirst to apply that principle in the con-
struction of a safety lamp, is entitled to a public reward."
A subscription was immediately commenced with this object,
and a highly influential committee was formed, consisting of the
Earl of Strathmore, C. J. Brandling, and others.
The subscription list was headed by Lord Ravensworth, one
of the partners in the KUlingworth Colliery, who showed his ap-
preciation of the merits of Stephenson by giving 100 guineas.
C. J. Brandling and partners gave a like sum ; and Matthew
Bell and partners, and John Brandling and partners, gave fifty
guineas each.
When the resolutions of Stephenson's friends appeared in the
newspapers, the scientific friends of Sir Humphry Davy in
London met, and passed a series of counter-resolutions, which
they published, declaring their opinion that Mr. Stephenson was
not the author of the discovery of the fact that explosion of
hydrogen will not pass through tubes and apertures of small
dimensions, and that he was not the first to apply that principle
to the construction of a safety lamp. To these counter-resolu-
tions were attached the well-known names of Sir Joseph Banks,
* Held at Newcastle on the 1st of Nov. 181T.