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

130 LIFE OF GEORGE STEPHENSON. [chap. xi.
The increased number of accidents which have occurred from
explosions in coal mines* since the general introduction of the
Davy lamp, have led to considerable doubts as to its safety, and
to inquiries as to the means by which it may be further improved;
for experience has shown that, under certain circumstances, the
Davy lamp is not safe. Mr. Stephenson was of opinion that the
modification of his own and Sir Humphry Davy's lamp, com-
bining the glass cylinder with the wire-gauze, was the most
secure lamp ; at the same time it must be admitted that the
Davy and the Geordy lamps alike failedto stand the severe tests
to which they were submitted by Dr. Pereira, when examined
before the Committee on Accidents in Mines. Indeed, Dr.
Pereira djd not hesitate to say, that when exposed to a current
of explosive gas, the Davy lamp is " decidedly unsafe," and that
the experiments by which its safety bad been " demonstrated
in the lecture-room had proved entirely " fallacious."t The
Committee, in their report, make use of these words : "Accidents
have occurred when his (Sir H. Davy's) lamp was in general
and careful use ; no one survived to tell the tale of how these
occurrences took place ; conjecture supplied the want of positive
knowledge most unsatisfactorily ; but incidents are recorded
which prove what must follow unreasonable testing of the lamp ;
and your Committee are constrained to believe that ignorance
and a false reliance upon its merits, in cases attended with un-
warrantable risks, have led to disastrous consequences."
It is worthy of remark, that under circumstances in which the
wire-gauze of the Davy lamp becomes red-hot from the high
explosiveness of the gas, the Geordy lamp is extinguished ; and
we cannot but think that this fact testifies to the decidedly supe-
rior safety of the Geordy. An accident occurred in the Oaks
Colliery Pit at Barnsley, on the 20th of August, 1857, which
* In the eighteen years previous to the introduction of the lamp, 447 persons
lost their lives in the counties of Durham and Northumberland, whilst in the
eighteen years following, the fatal accidents amounted to 638. Report on Accidents
in Mines, 1835, p. iv. The increase In the number of fatal accidents was
no doubt in a great measure attributable to the circumstance that, after the in-
vention of the safety lamp, the worlsing was resumed in many dangerous mines,
which had formerly been abandoned.
t Report on Accidents in Mines, p. 296. Evidence of Dr. Pereira, F. L. S.
—
"