14 
Sir  Humphry  Davy,  Bart.,  P.R.S. 
year  (1813).  Its  true  nature  being  unknoM'n,  it  was  commonly 
designated  as  X.  Ampere  gave  a small  quantity  to  Davy,  who 
at  once  undertook  experiments,  partly  at  his  hotel  and  partly 
in  Chevreul’s  laboratory.  There  were  some  misunderstandings 
on  this  subject,  but  it  is  not  necessary  to  allude  to  them  more 
fully  here.  Dr.  Thorpe  has  stated  the  case  very  clearly  and 
fairly  in  his  little  book. 
In  1812  public  attention  was  specially  called  to  the  urgent 
need  of  some  improved  system  of  the  ventilation  of  mines  for 
the  protection  of  miners  from  the  explosions  of  fire-damp  by  an 
ex})losion  at  the  Brandling  Main  and  Falling  Colliery,  near 
(xateshead-on-Tyne,  which  was  of  greater  magnitude  than  any 
that  had  occurred  up  to  that  time.  Explosions  had  been 
gradually  increasing  in  frequency  as  the  pits  became  (leej)er, 
until  the  fearful  calamity  occurred  at  this  colliery  on  May  25, 
1812,  when  ninety-two  men  and  boys  were  killed.  In  conse- 
quence of  this  disaster  a “ Society  for  Preventing  Accidents  in 
Coal  Mines”  was  formed  on  October  1,  1813.  In  the  first 
report  of  the  Society  a letter  from  Mr.  John  Buddie,  the  chief 
authority  on  the  A^entilation  of  coal  mines,  was  quoted,  in  which 
he  expressed  his  conviction  that  mechanical  agencies  are 
practically  powerless  to  [)revent  explosions  in  mines  subjected 
to  sudden  bursts  of  fire-damp,  ami  added  that  the  assistance 
of  scientific  men  must  be  looked  to  “for  providing 'a  cheap 
and  effectual  remedy.”  Many  impracticable  suggestions  were 
made  to  the  Society  and  a variety  of  air-tight  or  insulated 
lamps  were  proposed  by  Dr.  Clanny,  Mr.  W.  Brandling, 
Dr.  Murray,  and  others,  on  a similar  principle  to  that  con- 
ceived and  executed  by  Humboldt  in  1796.‘ 
The  Society  was  not  satisfied  with  the  suggestions  made 
to  them,  and  determined  to  seek  Davy’s  assistance.  Dr.  Ilobert 
Gray,  rector  of  Bishopwearmoufh  (and  afterwards  Bishop  of 
Bristol),  who  was  Cdiairman  of  the  Committee  of  the  Society, 
communicated  with  the  great  chemist,  who,  in  answer 
(August  3,  1815),  expressed  his  readiness  to  co-operate  with 
the  Committee,  when  Dr.  Gray  referred  him  to  Mr.  John 
Bmldle.  Specimens  of  fire-damp  were  sent  to  Davy  early  in 
October,  by  the  Bev.  Mr.  Hodgson,  and  soon  afterwards  he 
* See  Thorpe’s  Humphry  Bury,  chap.  10,  where  the  whole  question  of  the 
iiiveiitiou  of  the  safety-lamp  is  discussed.  l)r.  Clanny  described  Ids  insulated 
lamp  in  the  Philosophical  Transactions  for  1813,  and  in  181.5  he  invented  a 
steam  safety-lamp.  Humboldt’s  lamp  is  described  in  the  Journal  des  Mines, 
t.  viii.,  page  839. 
