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LXV. Intelligence and Miscellaneous Ariicles. 
SAFETY-LAMPS. 
To Mr. Tilloch. 
Sir, — Your last number containing a particular account of 
the proceedings at an entertainment, when a superb service 
of plate was presented to Sir H. Davy, by a number of the coal- 
owners possessed of mines in this part of the kingdom, as a par- 
tial remuneration for the discovery of a safety-lamp ; may I re- 
quest you to give publicity to the liberality of another part of the 
spirited body of men in rewarding Mr, George Stephenson, whe 
still disputes the priority of inventing a safety-lamp with his 
more opulent and scientific opponent ? 
A deseription of this lamp, as it was exhibited to the Literary 
and Philosophical Society of this place, in December 1815, will 
be found in youe Magazine for January 1816. 
«At a meeting held at the Assembly Rooms, November1,1817, 
for the purpose of remunerating Mr. G. Stephenson for the valu- 
able service he had rendered to mankind by the invention of his 
safety-lamp, which is calculated for the preservation of human 
life m situations formerly of the greatest danger : 
“ Resolved, ‘That it is the opinion of this meeting, that Mr. 
G. Stephenson havtng discovered the fact that explosion of hy- 
drogen gas will not pass through tubes and apertures of small 
dimensions, and having ‘been’ the first to apply that principle in 
the construction of a safety-lamp, is entitled to a public reward.” 
In consequence of the resolution, between six and seven hun- 
dred pounds was immediately subscribed, and it is thought the 
amount of the gratuity to be presented to Mr. G. Stephenson will 
yiot fall short of a thousand guineas. Such rewards do equal 
honour to the donors and receivers. But as few benefits are con- 
ferred on mankind unalloyed by some evil, such I fear is also 
likely to be the result from the introduction of safety-lamps into 
the coal-mines ; for, what effect can be expected, as far as relates. - 
to health and strength, from the use of a lamp which will consign 
a vast number of workmen to breathe an atmosphere surcharged 
with carburetted hydrogen? Accustomed from infancy to alter- 
nate heat and cold, and compelled to work in contaminated air, 
the pitmen are far from robust or long-lived ; but an invention 
which will facilitate the opening of old mines for the sake of the 
coal left in them, but which would not repay the expense of 
being worked by the light of steel mills, must ultimately prove a 
curse rather than a blessing to this laborious and valuable class. 
of miners, 
Newcastie, Nov. 8, 1817. a 
