NA TURE 



{Dec. 3, 1 885 



less dangerous by the addition of a metal shield partially sur- 

 rounding the gauze cylinder, or by the provision of an external 

 glass cylinder extending up the gauze to various distances. The 

 latter modification proved to be the most efficient safeguard of 

 the two ; but a much more important protection has been com- 

 paratively recently eflected by inclosing the lamp in a case, 

 which protects it to a great extent from the action of currents, 

 though this considerably dimiuishes the already very meagre 

 light afforded by this lamp. 



A lamp of Belgian origin, termed the Muesder, and which 

 has for many years past been officially adopted in Belgian mines, 

 presents important advantages over the lamps already referred to, 

 which were, in part, recognised before the Commission existed, 

 the lamp having since come into somewhat extensive use. Some 

 experiments and certain results of practical experience had, 

 however, already thrown doubt upon the wisdom of placing 

 absolute reliance in the safety of this lamp ; the Commissioners' 

 experiments confirmed the validity of those doubts, and showed 

 that, under particular conditions, the Mueseler lamp might cause 

 an explosion when exposed to a current of fire-damp mixture of veiy 

 moderate velocity. On the other hand, the cased Da'.y lamp was 

 found perfectly safe, under much inore severe conditions, and 

 this important fact has led to the adaptation of cases in various 

 ways to the old types of safety lamps — many so-called new safety 

 lamps consisting, in fact, of the Davy and Clanny protected by 

 inclosure from the direct action of the current. 



The publication of the Commissioners' investigations will, I 

 venture to affirm, convince even those who, although they have 

 not cared to inform themselves of the character and extent of tlie 

 work which was being done, have thought it right and just to 

 publicly reproach the Commission with dilatoriness, that the 

 curtailment of these researches would only have been detrimental 

 to the conclusive, and therefore practically important, nature of 

 the results arrived at. For, these have not only led to decisive 

 conclusions regarding the defects of the best known types of 

 lamps, and the degree of safety and other merits of a large 

 variety of modifications of them, as well as of new forms of 

 lamps, but they will also enable the Commissioners to indicate, 

 with confidence, several lamps which combine a great degree of 

 safety with other important merits, and to specify a few among 

 these which, while ranking highest in point of safety, and leaving 

 very little indeed to be desired in this respect, combine, with this 

 first essential, the important adjuncts of simplicity of construc- 

 tion and fair illuminating power. It will, moreover, be possible 

 to indicate some directions in which even these lamps are sus- 

 eptible of improvement. It, therefore, only remains to be 

 hoped that the results of the labour which the Commissioners 

 have devoted to this branch of their inquiry will be accepted 

 wtth the confidence they merit, and will be speedily utilised both 

 by those who are responsible for the management of mines and 

 by those who control the actions of the miner. 



When the Commission's investigations were already consider- 

 ably advanced, Mr. Ellis Lever publicly offered a premium of 

 £,yyo for a miners' safety lamp, which, while being of convenient 

 size for carrying about, would continue to give a useful amount 

 of light for not less than twelve hours, and which would not 

 cause an explosion of gas under any circumstances at all likely to 

 represent conditions which may occitr in actual practice. It was 

 proposed that the judges to whom lamps submitted for competition 

 were to be referred should include three scientists, nominated 

 respectively by Mr. Lever, by the Royal Society, and by the 

 Society of Arts. No less than loS different lamps were sent in, 

 and it need scarcely be said that the determination whether any 

 among them fulfilled the prescribed conditions involved a very 

 extensive series of experiments. The adjudicators who had to 

 investigate the merits of the various lamps, included three 

 scientists, and two were members of the Commission, who cheer- 

 fully consented to take upon themselves this very considerable 

 addition to the voluntary labours already being carried on by 

 them in the interests of the miners. 



Only four electric lamps were submitted, and these altogether 

 failed in fulfilling any one of the conditions laid down, excepting 

 that of being self-contained lamps. Eventually, not one of the 

 other lamps was found completely to fulfil the whole of the con- 

 ditions under which the premium was offered, although several 

 ranked very high as regards safety and efficiency ; foremost 

 among these being the lamp of M. Marsaut and that of Mr. N. 

 Morgan, of Pontypridd, to whom gold medals have been awarded 

 at the Inventions Exhibition, and whose lamps rank among those 

 which tlie Commissioners are able to speak most highly of. 



But, the premium which Mr. Lever placed at the disposal of the 

 adjudicators reverted to him, and those who have great experi- 

 ence of the behaviour of safety lamps of the various well-known 

 and recently developed types, could scarcely have anticipated a 

 different result. Mr. Lever has, since then, again offered a 

 similar premium, this time for " the invention or discovery 

 of an economical, efficient, and safe substitute for gunpowder 

 and other dangerous explosives used in the getting of coal." 

 The Council of the Society of Arts could not see their 

 way to comply with the suggestions of Mr. Lever that they 

 should award this premium, or appoint adjudicators for 

 that purpose, as they did not feel themselves warranted in 

 suggesting the great sacrifice of time, in the performance of 

 the very laborious and exhaustive experiments indispensable in 

 this case, to such as would be really competent to perform the 

 work of adjudication, which Mr. Lever appears to think at least 

 as lightly of as of the offer of these prizes. It borders upon the 

 amusing to observe inthe article by the Manchester Correspondent 

 of the Times, to which such prominence was given on the 27th 

 of last June, how the writer heralds offers of subscriptions and 

 of premiums, as illustrating the way in which his hero "gallantly 

 attacks the problem (of accidents in mines) at all points," while 

 he has no encouraging word for the man 'of science whose dis- 

 interested devotion to very arduous work, for which his sole 

 probable recognition would be hostile criticism, or worse, can 

 alone give any point to the "gallant attacks " of philanthropists 

 like Mr. Ellis Lever. 



{To be continued.) 



THE ROYAL SOCIETY' 

 A T the earUest opportunity after my return to England last 

 ■^ spring I offered my very grateful acknowledgments to 

 the Society for the kindness with which the Fellows had 

 condoned my enforced absence from my post during the winter. 

 And I should not venture to occupy your time by recurring to 

 the subject, did not the return of St. Andrew's Day admonish me 

 •hat duty and inclination alike require me to offer my especial 

 thanks to the Treasurer for the cheerful readiness with which he 

 took upon himself the burden of my duties, and the efficiency 

 with which he discharged them on our last Anniversary. 



On the last occasion on which I had the honour to address 

 you, it was my painful duty to commence by lamenting the 

 death of a very eminent member of the Society, who was, at the 

 same time, one of my oldest and most intimate friends. I deeply 

 regret to find myself once more in this position. The lamentable 

 accident which has deprived the Society of one of its oldest and 

 most distinguished Fellows, Dr. Carpenter, has robbed me of a 

 friend, whose kindly sympathy and help were invaluable to me 

 five-and-thirty years ago, and who has never failed me since. 



You are all acquainted with Dr. Carpenter's great and long- 

 centinued services to science a^ an investigator and as an 

 expositor of remarkable literary skill ; and there must be many 

 here who, having worked with him in the University of London, 

 of which he was so long Registrar, are familiar with the high 

 integrity, the energy, and the knowledge, which marked him as 

 an administrator. He was a man of varied accomplishtnents 

 outside the province of science, single-minded in aim, stainless 

 in life, respected by all with whom he came in contact. 



Within the last few days, Physics has lost an eminent 

 representative in Dr. Thomas Andrews, of Belfast. Among the 

 cultivators of Chemical Science we have to regret the decease of 

 Mr. Field, who was one of the original members of the 

 Chemical Society ; of Mr. Weldon, and of Dr. Voeicker, whose 

 names are well known in connexion with manufacturing and 

 agricultural chemistry. In Biology, we have lost Dr. Davidson, 

 whose elaborate monographs on the fossil Brachiopoda are 

 remarkable examples of accurate malacological work combined 

 with artistic skill ; Dr. Gwyn Jeffries, the veteran explorer of 

 our marine molluscous fauna, and a high authority on conchology ; 

 and Dr. Morrison Watson, whose early death has cut short the 

 career of an anatomist of much promise. Mineralogy has 

 suffered a similar loss by the premature death of Dr. Walter 

 Flight. In Engineering Science, we have to lament the deaths 

 of Mr. Barlow and Professor Fleeming Jenkin. I may be 

 permitted to dwell for a moment upon the latter name, as that 

 of a most genial and accomplished man and a valued personal 



1 Address of the President. Prof. T. H. Huxley, delivered at the 

 Anniversary Meeting, November 30, 1S85. 



