. Notices respecting New Books. 5h 
covery made by Sir Humphry, since the reading of his paper, 
which may be considered as an invention even more important 
than that forming the subject of the paper itself. 
This publication has the following dedication : 
*¢ To the Lord Bishop of Durham, who has taken that warm 
interest in the subject of these pages which might have been 
expected from his exalted benevolence. 
** They are dedicated as a testimony of the respect and at- 
tachment of the author. 
6 ADVERTISEMENT, 
“It is impossible to converse with, persons in the neighbour- 
hood of the collieries where explosions have happened from the 
fire-damp, and not to be strongly affected by the accounts they 
give of the destruction of human life and the variety of human 
misery produced by these dreadful accidents. By a single ex- 
plosion in the Felling colliery* 94 persons were destroyed, and 
nearly as many families plunged into deep distress; and the 
frequency of the occurrence of these catastrophes, notwith- 
standing the improvements in the ventilation of the mines, and 
the continued activity of the persons concerned in the care of 
the works, had almost produced a feeling of despair in the 
minds of many benevolent persons, as to the possibility of finding 
a remedy sufficiently simple and oeconomica! to be used in the 
mines ; and when | first turned my attention to the inquiry, it 
was rather with a faint hope than a strong expectation of dis- 
covering in the resources of chemistry means of securing the 
miner from the effects of the fire-damp. 
“ On considering the subject before I was acquainted with the 
nature of the gas, the simple method of burning a lamp ina pueu- 
matic apparatus supplied with air through water occurred to me, as 
it probably has to every one versed in chemistry; but I found, on 
inquiry, that this idea had been long ago put into execution by 
Dr. Clanny, and published, whilst I was absent from England, 
in the Philosophical Transactions. Dr, Clanay showed me his 
lamp at Bishop Wearmouth, after I had made some inquiries as 
to the state of the mines. I[t. appeared to me ingeniously ex- 
ecuted; hut when I proposed the trial of it to some enlightened 
and liberal inspectors of miyes, they stated that its size, weight, 
* A very interesting account of this event has been published by the 
Rev. John todgson, { have named this gentleman amongst many others 
who obligingly gave me assistance in my inquiries, and I cannot mention 
him again suithernts again making my acknowledgements for-the variety of 
information he afforded me during the visits that we made together to the 
collieries, and for the general interest he has taken in my experiments of 
the subject. 
D2 and 
