2c6 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY, 



sake of looking to the safety of the roof that the miner has a naked 

 light when he ought not to have one. But we think that there is little 

 doubt that such is often the case. And we mention this only as one 

 of those countless occasions, known only to those who have had sub- 

 terranean experience, in which the desire for more light than that 

 afforded by the ordinary safety-lamp may become uncontrollable. 

 Our argument is, that some strong instinct of human nature must be 

 at work in order to lead the miner to affront the known danger of 

 explosion from the use of naked lights so frequently as we have but 

 too much evidence that he is in the habit of doing. And we think 

 that there is enough to account for this in the instinctive desire for 

 light, and more especially in the maddening effect of obscurity when 

 accuracy of vision is required. 



If we have thus rightly judged, the first effect of the remark should 

 be to remove a very heavy load of obloquy under which our colliers as 

 a body have hitherto labored. More than that, the more any public 

 writer has been acquainted with the chemistry of the coal mine, the 

 louder has usually been his condemnation of the recklessness of the 

 miner. No doubt, from the chemist's point of view, there is but too 

 much reason for this. Avoid naked light and avoid blasting, and you 

 avoid explosion. This logic is undeniable. But the chemistry of the 

 mine is not the matter which most directly presses upon the miner. 

 The mechanic, the physiologist, the optician, each has to be consulted. 

 Grim fact shows that the chemical danger is, and always has been, 

 affronted. The need of light explains why this has been the case. 

 What, then, is the outcome of the whole inquiry ? 



It is this : The miner requires light. It is now half a century 

 since science has done much to aid him in this respect. It was in or 

 about the year 1815 that Sir Humphry Davy and George Stephenson 

 entered on their honorable rivalry as to the safety-lamp. Foreign en- 

 gineers have provided, in the lamps used in the deep Belgian mines, 

 a sort of compound of the " Geordie " and the " Davy," under the 

 name of the Mueseler lamp. MM. Liaute and Denoyel have invented 

 an electric lamp, perfect as a scientific toy, but too cumbersome and 

 liable to derangement for the rough usage of the miner. What is re- 

 quired is a lamp which shall at the same time give abundant light and 

 afford perfect protection. It must not be cumbersome ; it must not 

 be heavy ; it must not be costly. Miners have been known to dash 

 in pieces the Upton and Roberts safety-lamp, merely from the irrita- 

 tion caused by its weight. If the miner can be provided with a lamp 

 which, with the safety and the convenience of the " Davy," can give the 

 light of eight or ten candles, can throw that light where it is wanted, 

 and can do that at a moderate cost, the saving of life in our coal mines 

 will be very great. For, by such an appliance, not only may the mor- 

 tality caused by explosions be prevented, but that due to falls of roof, 

 if not to other causes, may be most materially diminished. 



