Some new Researches on Flame. 21 
Even in the common lamps the flexibility of the material has 
been found of great importance ; and I could quote one instance 
of a dreadful accident having been prevented, which must have 
happened had any other material than wire-gauze been employed 
in the construction of the lamp: and how little difficulty has oc- 
curred in the practical application of the invention, is shown by 
the circumstance, that it has been now for ten months in the 
hands of hundreds of common miners in the most dangerous 
mines in Britain, during which time not a single accident has 
occurred where it has been employed, whilst in other mines, much 
less dangerous, where it has not yet been adopted, some lives 
have been lost, and many persons burned. 
The facts stated in Section II. explain why so much more heat 
is obtained from fuel when it is burnt quickly; and they show 
that in all cases the temperature of the acting bodies should be 
kept as high as possible, not only because the general increment 
of heat is greater, but likewise, because those combinations are 
prevented which at lower temperatures take place without any 
considerable production of heat:—thus, in the Argand lamp, the 
Liverpool lamp, and in the best fire-places, the increase of ef- 
fect does not depend merely upon the rapid current of air, but 
likewise upon the heat preserved by the arrangements of the 
materials of the chimney, and communicated to the matters en- 
tering into inflammation. 
These facts likewise explain the methods by which tempera- 
ture may be increased, and the limit to certain methods. Cur- 
rents of flame, as it was stated in the last section, can never 
raise the heat of bodies exposed to them, higher than a certain 
degree, their own temperature ; but by compression, there can 
be no doubt, the heat of flames from pure supporters and com- 
bustible matter may be greatly increased, probably in the ratio 
of their compression. In the blow-pipe of oxygen and hydro- 
gen, the maximum of temperature is close to the aperture from 
which the gases are disengaged, 7. ¢. where their density is 
greatest. Probably a degree of temperature far beyond any that 
has been yet attained may be produced by throwing the flame 
from compressed oxygen and hydrogen into the Voltaic are, and 
thus combining the two most powerful agents for increasing 
temperature. 
- The circumstances mentioned in this paper,combined with those 
noticed in the paper on flame printed in Mr. Brande’s Journal of 
Science and the Arts, explain the nature of the light of flames 
and their form. When in flames pure gaseous matter is burnt, 
the light is extremely feeble: the density of a common flame is 
proportional to the quantity of solid charcoal first deposited and 
afterwards burnt, The form of the flame is conical, because the 
‘ greatest 
