INVENTION OF THE SAFETY LAMP. 



283 



In these and other instances, it is more than 

 orobable, that a want of attention to the natural 

 l&ws of the universe, and to the obvious effects 

 which an enlightened mind should foresee they 

 would produce, was the chief cause of the de 

 struction of so many human beings, and of the 

 sufferings of those whose lives were preserved. 

 The same remark may be applied to the cir 

 cumstances connected with a late fatal accident 

 which happened on the Liverpool and Manches 

 ter rail-road. 



On Fridav afternoon, February 1, 1833, as 

 the second-class train, which leaves Liverpool at 

 three o clock, was proceeding over Parr Moss, a 

 little on the other side of Newton, one of the 

 tubes which passes longitudinally through the 

 boiler, burst, The consequence was, that a 

 quantity of water fell into the fire, steam was 

 generated in abundance, and the engine stopped. 

 Several of the passengers alighted to see what 

 was the matter, and they incautiously got upon the 

 line of rail-way taken by the trains in going to 

 Liverpool, the contrary to that on which the dis 

 abled engine stood. While they were in this 

 situation, a train of wagons from Bolton, pro 

 ceeding to Liverpool, came up. The persons 

 who had alighted did not see the advancing train, 

 being enveloped in a dense cloud of vapour ; and, 

 from the same cause, they were by the conduct 

 or also unseen. They accordingly came upon 

 them with fearful violence ; several were knocked 

 down, and the wheels of the train passed over four 

 of them. Three of the unfortunate party were 

 killed upon the spot ; their bodies being dread 

 fully crushed ; the fourth survived, and was taken 

 forward to the infirmary, but his recovery was 

 considered hopeless. Two of the three killed 

 were elderly persons, whose names were un 

 known ; the third, an interesting young man, 

 who had formerly been in the employ of the Com 

 pany as a fireman, and who was married only three 

 weeks before. The survivor was a boy about 

 sixteen years of age, who was proceeding from 

 Belfast to Halifax, where his parents reside. 

 The casualty, which was the occasion of 

 this serious result, was itself but trifling, as the 

 train went forward to Manchester after a short 

 delay. 



This shocking catastrophe was evidently caus 

 ed by rashness and imprudence by not foresee 

 ing what might probably arise from a certain 

 combination of circumstances or, in other 

 words, by inattention to certain natural laws, 

 both on the part of those who were connected 

 with the Liverpool train of wagons, and of those 

 who conducted the Bolton train. In regard to 

 the passengers in the Liverpool train, it was 

 highly improper that they should have left their 

 seats on the carriage. The accident which befel 

 the unfortunate Mr. Huskisson, at the opening 

 of tlie rail-way, should have operated as an im 

 pressive warning against such a practice. In 



the next place, it was most imprudent to venture 

 upon the other line of rail-way, more especially 

 when a cloud of steam prevented them from see* 

 ing what was passing around them. In regard to 

 the person who had the command of the Bolton 

 train, it was incautious and imprudent in the 

 highest degree, to urge his machinery forward, 

 when ho beheld a volume of smoke immediately 

 before him; the least consideration must have 

 convinced him, that some accident must have 

 happened, and that the cloud of steam would pre 

 vent those enveloped in it from perceiving the 

 approach of his vehicle ; and, therefore, he ought 

 immediately to have abated his speed, so as to 

 have acquired a complete command of the en 

 gine by the time it arrived at the spot where the 

 steam was floating. Hence the importance in 

 conducting steam-engines and other departments 

 of machinery of having as superintendents, men 

 of prudence and of enlightened minds, capable of 

 foreseeing the probable effects of every combina 

 tion of circumstances that may happen to occur. 

 For Ignorance is generally proud, obstinate, 

 incautious, precipitate in its movements, and 

 regardless of consequences ; so that, through its 

 heedlessness and folly, the most splendid inven 

 tions are often impeded in their progress, and 

 their value and utility called in question. 



The Liverpool and Manchester Rail-way, 

 and the locomotive powers of th machinery and 

 engines which move along it, constitute one ot 

 the most splendid and useful improvements 01 

 modern times. From the last half-yearly Re-. 

 port of .he Directors, from June 30 to December 

 31, 1832, it it satisfactorily proved, that this rail 

 way is completely efficient and applicable to all 

 the great objects for which it was designed. Dur 

 ing the period now specified, there were carried 

 along the rail-way 86,842 tons goods, 39,940 tons 

 coals, and 182,823 passengers, which is 73,498 

 fewer than in the corresponding six months of 

 1831, owing to the prevalence of cholera in Dub 

 lin, and in the towns of Manchester and Liver 

 pool. Were this rail-way continued to London, 

 it is calculated, that the journey from Liverpool 

 to the Metropolis, a distance of more than 200 

 miles, might be performed in eight or ten hours. 



No. TX. Circumstances which led to the inven 

 tion of the Safety Lamp. Pp.27, 81. 



This lamp, by means of which hundreds of 

 lives have been preserved, was invented in the 

 autumn of 1815. Sir Humphry Davy, the inven 

 tor, was led to the consideration of this subject, 

 by an application from Dr. Gray, now Bishop 

 of Bristol, the chairman of a society established 

 in 1813, at Bishop- Wearmouth, to consider and 

 promote the means of preventing accidents by 

 fire in coal-pits. Being then in Scotland, he 

 visited the mines on his return southward, and 

 was supplied with specimens of fire-damp, which, 



