5 
NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE. 
the light is always' ? clear and Ready. The other parts of 
the lamp were air-tight, and the whole made very ilrong, 
with, a glafs nearly half an inch thick to prevent it from 
being broken by any common accident. It is capable of 
being managed by a boy at a much lefs expenfe than the 
fteel-mill. This lamp, excited little attention among the 
coal-workers where it was firft made known. Had not 
the prejudices againft improvements prevented its general 
introduction, more than a thoufand lives might have been 
preferved, which were deftroyed in the mining-diftrifts of 
the Tyne and Wear in a few years after its difcovery. In 
its firft form, the lamp, though fecure, W'as not made fuf- 
ficiently light to be portable without being placed on a 
barrow' ; but Dr. Clanny afterw'ards improved it in this 
refpeCt, by lubftituting a fmall pair of bellow’s to be 
worked under the right arm ; the lamp, being fufpended 
by a leather belt from the left fide of the boy who carried 
it, might in this way be moved into the narrowed: or molt 
dangerous parts of the mine. A defcription of Dr. Clanny’s 
fafety-lamp, with a plate, was firft given in the Philofo- 
phical TranfaCtions of the Royal Society for 1813. part ii. 
p. 2.00. 
A lamp that would fupply itfelf with atmofpheric air 
was ftill a defideratum ; when Dr. Clanny difcovered, in 
November 1815, as he was making experiments with the 
original fafety-lamp in an atmofphere of fire-damp in the 
Horrington-mine, near Sunderland, that, if the infulation 
of the lamp was made with hot water, the fire-damp 
burned filently at the wick, and did not explode within 
the lamp, as formerly. This he afcertained to be owdng 
to the fteam ; and he farther difcovered, that one part in 
volume of fteam to two of the moft explofive mixtures 
deftroyed their inflammability. A fimilar effeCt of fteam 
had been before noticed by Von Grotthus, in the 82ft vo¬ 
lume of the Annales de Chimie, but had not been ap¬ 
plied to any ufeful purpofe. In December of the fame 
3'ear, Dr. Clanny conftru&ed a fteam fafety-lamp, which 
lie exhibited to the Society for preventing Accidents in 
Coal-mines, and received their unanimous thanks ; and 
in 1817 he received a gold medal from the Society of Arts 
for the difcovery. 
In the hiftory of ufeful inventions, perhaps noinftance 
of fupinenefs can be adduced, among thofe interefted in 
any difcovery, which equals the inattention fliowm for fe- 
veral years by the coal-workers in the north to the valua¬ 
ble labours of Dr. Clanny. So far from receiving the pa¬ 
tronage he highly merited, he w'as regarded by many with 
a ftrange jealoufy, as an officious intruder into the myf- 
teries of mining ; myfteries which he had no right to in- 
veftigate. To Dr. Clanny, however, the firft difcovery 
of a fafety-lamp is undoubtedly due : and his lamp had 
alfo the merit of firft fuggefting the poffibility of infulat- 
ing the flame in the different lamps which have fince been 
conftruCted. 
In confequence of the unaccountable fupinenefs w r e 
have been lamenting, we have to record three dreadful 
accidents in one year. We copy the accounts from the 
Newcaftle Chronicle and the Monthly Magazine. 
On Wednelday, the 3d of May, 1815, an accident took 
place in the Heaton-mine colliery, near Newcaftle. In 
the courfe of time the old workings had become entirely 
filled with water, which, at about half-paft four o’clock 
on Wednelday morning, broke through the roof, in the 
north-weft part of the prefent colliery, (at a point where 
the ftrata are difturbed by a dyke,) and inundated the 
workings. Some of the men, who were working near the 
fpot where the water forced its entrance, ran immediately 
to the ffiafts, and happily efcaped. On their way they 
met Mr. Miller, the under-viewer, and informed him of 
what had happened. He ran to give the alarm to the men 
who were working in the higher part of the pit, in hopes 
that they might be able to effeCt their efcape alfo; but this, 
alas ! was not permitted. The water ruffied in with dread¬ 
ful rapidity ; and, flowing naturally to the lowed: parts of 
the workings, cut off the only means of efcape by doling 
VOE.XVII. No. 1157. 
the lower mouth of the lhafts, in which the water foon 
rofe to the depth of nineteen fathoms. Every poffibility of 
retreat to thofe left behind was now cut off; and, fliock- 
ing to relate, seventy-five human beings, including 
Mr. Miller, were Unit up in the workings towards the 
rife of the colliery, either to perilh by hunger, or die for 
want of refpirable air. Some faint expectations were en¬ 
tertained during the courfe of the firft day, that a commu¬ 
nication might be opened to thefe unhappy people, by 
uncovering and defcending through one of the old lhafts, 
at Heaton Banks ; but, before the fcaflolding was reached, 
the furrounding earth fell in, and every glimpfe of hope 
vanilhed. It was not till the 6th of January, 1816, that 
the firft body was found ; it was that of an old man em¬ 
ployed on the waggon-way ; and a tad worthy of notice 
is, that the wafte-water in which he had been immerfed 
had deftroyed his woollen clothes, and corroded the iron 
parts of a knife he had in his pocket, yet his linen and the 
bone-haft of the knife remained entire. Shortly after, 
Mr. Miller the under-viewer, the wafte-men, and a few 
others, were difcovered ; they had met a fimilar fate, hav¬ 
ing been overtaken by the w'ater about a hundred yards 
from the lhaft to which they had been haftening to fave 
themfelves. But the lot of thefe eight perfons may be 
conlidered fortunate, fpr their fuft’erings were tranfient 
when compared with thofe which awaited the unhappy 
beings left at work towards the rife of the mine, and as 
yet unconfcious of their dreadful fituation. About the 
16th of February, the higher part of the workings were 
explored ; and now a fcene truly horrible was prefented 
to view; for here lay the corpfes of fifty-fix human beings, 
whom the water had never reached, being lituated thirty- 
five fathoms above its level. They had colleCfed together 
near the crane, and were found within a fpace of thirty 
yards of each other; their pofitions and attitudes were 
various ; feveral appeared to have fallen forwards from 
off an inequality, or rather ftep, in the coal on which they 
had been fitting ; others, from their hands being clalped 
together, feemed to have expired while addreffing them¬ 
felves to the protection of the Deity ; two, who were re¬ 
cognized. as brothers, had died grafping each other’s hand; 
and one poor little boy repoled in his father’s arms. 
Two flight cabins had been haftily conllruCted by nailing 
up deal-boards, and in one of thefe melancholy habita¬ 
tions three of the ftouteft miners had breathed their lalt, 
and, what feems Angular, one of them had either been 
ftripped of his clothes by his lurviving companions, or 
had thrown off all covering from mental derangement. 
A large lump of horfe-flefli wrapped up in a jacket, nearly 
two pounds of candles, and three others which had died 
out when half burned, were found in this apartment, if 
it can be fo called. One man, well known to have pof- 
feffed a remarkably pacific, difpofition, had retired to a dis¬ 
tance to end his days alone and in quiet ; and that this 
would be the cafe was predicted by many of his fellow- 
workmen, who were acquainted with his mild temper. 
Another had been placed to watch the rife or fall of the 
water, to afcertain which, fticks had been placed; and was 
found dead at his poll. There were two horfes in the 
part of the mine to which the people had retired; one 
had been flaughtered, its entrails taken out, and hind¬ 
quarters cut up for ufe; the other was faftened to a ftake, 
which it had almoft gnawed to pieces, as well as a corf or 
coal-balket that had been left within its reach. Thirty- 
feven horfes were loft in the whole. 
Scarcely had the public mind recovered this ftiock, when 
another, not occafioned by water, but by fire, took place 
at Newbottle-colliery, on the river Wear. This lhaft 
was nearly diftitute of water; the mine was won about 
four years ago ; one lhaft, called the Succefs Pit, is about 
108 fathoms deep. At five o’clock in the afternoon of 
June 2, 1815, a cloud of duft and fmoke wasfeen to iflue 
from the mouth of this lhaft, by which the workmen at 
bank were convinced that an explofion had taken place 
below ground ; and in a few minutes one of the trappers, 
C who 
