160 SIR HUMPHREY DAVY. 



Iodine and Oxygen, and on its Chemical Agencies " ; 

 '' Action of Acids on the Salts usually called the 

 Hyper-oxymuriates, and on the Gases produced 

 from them." 



All his life, besides his ambition to be great, he 

 desired to aid his fellow-men, and in the year 1815 

 he made a discovery which placed him among the 

 benefactors of the race. In 1812 a terrible explo- 

 sion of gas had taken place in a mine, causing the 

 death of nearly a hundred men. The mine was on 

 fire, and the mouth had to be closed, thus bringing 

 sure death to the poor creatures within. Such acci- 

 dents were so frequent, that a committee of mine 

 proprietors visited the great chemist, to see if 

 science could suggest a remedy. 



He at once visited several mines, investigated 

 fire-damp, and found it to be light carburetted 

 hydrogen. After a long and careful series of exper- 

 iments through several months, he invented the 

 safety-lamp, " a cage of wire gauze, which actually 

 made prisoner the flame of the fire-damp, and in its 

 prison consumed it ; and whilst it confined the dan- 

 gerous explosive flame, it permitted air to pass and 

 light to escape ; and though, from the combustion 

 of the fire-damp, the cage might become red hot, 

 yet still it acted the part of a safety-lamp." 



Sir Humphrey at thirty-seven had immortalized 

 himself. At a public dinner given in his honor at 

 Newcastle, a service of plate worth over two 

 thousand pounds was presented to him. After his 

 death this service was given to the Royal Society 



