184 
WHERE DAVY’S LAMP CEASES TO AFFORD PROTECTION. 
young and thoughtless who manages the air 
doors), depends the safety of hundreds of 
men and boys, from minute to minute ; one 
act of omission of assigned duty, one solitary, 
momentary neglect, may cause the instant 
destruction of life and property to an indefi- 
nite extent.* 
2. Safety-lamps; by the aid of which the 
miner is enabled to commence and continue his 
operation in situations where no naked light 
could be used, and at other times as a pre- 
caution against apprehended sudden changes 
in the atmosphere which surrounds him.'f' 
3. Maps or plans, accurately defining not 
only the mode of conducting the air-courses, 
but the entire of the workings, pointing out 
also the position of adjacent abandoned mines, 
which may have become reservoirs of gas or 
of water.^ 
The various modes of ventila.ing mines§ 
already in use, as well as those systems which 
have given place to improved methods, will 
be found detailed by various witnesses, and 
their merits so fully canvassed, as to require 
no comment from your committee. To enter 
upon a review of every plan and suggestion, 
would compel your committee to exceed the 
reasonable limits of a report. They do not he- 
sitate to express a conviction, that whilst some 
mines equally foul, are naturally freed from 
large accumulations of gas]], by the approx- 
imation of the seams of coals to the surface 
of the earth, others where the seams lie 
horizontally, or nearly so, require more shafts, 
additional opportunities for the injection 
of pure air and the rejection of foul, than 
are ordinarily afforded. A less parsimonious 
system in this respect^, in the original design 
of those mines, and in their subsequent work- 
ing, would have rendered easy otherwise 
difficult ventilation, and saved many valu- 
able lives. The absolute necessity of greater 
attention to this point thas been fully esta- 
blished. 
The practice of placing wooden partitions 
or brattices** * * §§ in the ventilating shafts is deser- 
vedly reprobated; the slightest explosion may 
remove them, thus the whole system of venti- 
lation is destroyed, and no timely aid can be 
rendered to the temporarily surviving suf- 
ferers. Your committee have reason to 
believe that this opinion is generally adopted 
in the coal mining districts.'!''}' To this point 
they attach an importance, inferior only to 
the provision of a sufficent number of up-cast 
and down-cast shafts. ++ They consider tliat 
the evidence justifies the suspicion that the 
foul and free air courses are frequently too 
near to each other, §§ the communications not 
adequately protected, and that the lengths of 
of air-coursing are excessive, giving oppor- 
tunities for leakage, interruption, and contami- 
nation. li|| The temporary nature of the stop- 
* 1611.16161.620.1045.2068.2233.2965.686.2995. 
1126.1128.1482. 
+ 1961. t 1092.1363.1391. 
§ 1562.1568.1988.1994.2095.2612.2853.2916.3018. 
315S*869*98S* § 
II 2324! II 2152. ** 1606. 1651 .2124.2128. 2307. 
2341. t+ 2133. 
ft 2048.2173.3t47. §§2176.4079. HH 1587.1644. 
2540. 
pings, often boards imperfectly united, some- 
times mere heaps of small coal, and their fre- 
quent derangement*, inevitably produce dan- 
gerous consequences. 
Your committee have endeavoured to inves- 
tigate, with strict impartiality, the merits of 
the different lamps which have been brought 
under their notice. In the course of the evi- 
dence many varieties will be found described. 
The invention claimed by Sir Humphry 
Davy, on principles demonstrated by that 
able philosopher, may be considered as having 
essentially served the mining interests of this 
kingdom, and through them contributed 
largely to the sources of national as well as 
individual wealth. Many invaluable seams 
of coal never could have been worked with- 
out the aid of such an instrumentt ; and its 
long use throughout an. extensive district, with 
the comparatively limited number of acci- 
dents,}: proves its claim to be considered, un- 
der ordinary circumstances, a safety lamp. 
The principles of its construction appear to 
have been practically known§ to the wit- 
nesses Clanny and Stevenson, previously to the 
period when Davy brought his powerful 
mind to bear upon the subject, and produced 
an instrument which will hand down his 
name to the latest ages. || 
The attention of your committee has been 
drawn by different witnesses^ to contingen- 
cies in mining, under which the lamp of Sir 
H. Davy ceases to afford adequate protection. 
Of the possible existence and nature of those 
contingencies**, your committee have ascer- 
tained that the inventor was well awareft, 
and they regret that the cautions he gave to 
some of his immediate friends were not made 
more public. Accidents have occurred where 
his lamp was in general and careful use ; 
no one survived to tell the tale how these 
occurrences took place ; conjecture supplied 
the want of positive knowledge}:}; most unsatis- 
factorily ; but incidents are recorded which 
prove what must follow unreasonable testing 
of the security of that lamp ; and your com- 
mittee are constrained to believe, that igno- 
rance and a false reliance upon its merits in 
cases attended with unwarrantable risk, have 
led to disastrous consequences. The proofs 
collected in support of this opinion maybe 
considered so many warnings to the miners 
of England. The prejudices which exist 
in many districts against the employment of 
the Davy lamp§§ are not occasioned by doubts 
of its protective character; the complaints 
made are of too little light HH, and the difficulty, 
in comparison with the use of the common 
candle, in bringing that light to bear with 
precision on the work, particularly in the 
thickest seams which are found in Warwick- 
shire, Staffordshire, and other counties^^. 
Notwithstanding these prejudices, your com- 
* 1695.3389. + 1664. t 2588.1334. 
§ 2236.334.340.1545.1556.1561. |1 1551. 
f 1886.2558.2586.818.3833.3960. 2226.2787. 
2941.2912.3446. 
ft 2562. tt 3247.641. 
§§ 2547.2556.2702. |||| 1956.2701. r^ISO. 
5 5 1633. 1 761 . 1 778.2239.2568. 2747. 470. 
