N E W 
NEW 
Should not exceed 2%th of an inch in diameter; and 
though the thicknefs of the wire is not of much impor¬ 
tance, as the fire-damp is not inflamed by ignited or red- 
hot wire, yet from -g^th to -g^th of an inch is found moft 
convenient. The wire cylinder, that ferves as a cover to 
the lamp, and is fattened to it by a fcrew of four or five 
turns, Should not be more than two inches in diameter. 
If it is larger, the combuftion of the fire-damp within 
renders the top inconveniently hot. The fize of the lamp, 
according to the dimenfions in the figure which fir Hum¬ 
phry has given, is one inch fix-tenths for the diameter of 
the wire cylinder, and fix inches and a half for its length. 
This is fcrewed down on a cylindric box, containing the 
oil and the wick, and about two inches and a half in dia¬ 
meter. The gauze cylinder is defended by fix ftrong 
upright wares, fixed in the upper part of this box, and 
fupporting a cylindric top of metal, to which is fixed the 
hook or ring by which the lamp is carried. A finall 
cylinder, obliquely projecting from the fide of the under 
part of the lamp, ferves to convey the oil to the wick. 
The whole is fo perfectly Ample, fo eafily ufed, and fo 
little in danger from accidents of any kind, that it is 
Angularly accommodated to the circumstances in which it 
is to be placed, when it has to encounter ignorance, and 
the carelefinefs which even the moft imminent danger 
cannot reprefs for a continuance of time. 
When this lamp is ufed, and where the fire-damn has 
a certain degree of ftrength, the whole of the wire-cylinder 
is filled with flame, the fire-damp burning with a greenilh- 
blue colour; fo that this lamp ferves to confume the damp, 
and, of confequence, not only to difcover the enemy, and 
defend from his attack, but alfo finally to deftroy him 
altogether. In no inftance could the motto be better 
applied, Natura propriis armis viSla. 
To this lamp a valuable addition has been lately made 
by the application of a lens before the flame, to condenfe 
the rays of light, and dire ft them to any particular fpot. 
It has the farther advantage of protefting that part of the 
wire-gauze from coal-duft, by which it is liable to be 
choaked and obfcured in a few hours. 
In fubfequent experiments, fir H. Davy difcovered that 
much thicker wires and larger apertures might be ufed 
than were at-firft applied. This gave to the lamp greater 
ftrength, and tranfmitted more light. Gauze made of 
brafs wire ^th of an inch in thicknefs, and containing 
only ico apertures in the fquare inch, did not communi¬ 
cate exploiion in a mixture of one part coal-gas and 
twelve of common air, fo long as the wire was cool; but 
as foo.n as the top became hot an exploiion took place. 
A quick lateral motion alfo enabled it to communicate 
exploiion. With 196 apertures to the fquare inch, the 
explofion was not communicated till the wire became 
ftrongly hot. Iron-wire-gauze, containing 240 apertures 
to the fquare inch, was fafe in explofive mixtures of coal- 
gas, till it became ftrongly red-hot at the top. Iron-wire- 
gauze of 576 apertures to the fquare inch, or the g^th 
part of an inch each in diameter, appears, fays fir H. Davy, 
to be fafe under all circumftances, in explofive mixtures 
of coal-gas. With very fine wire-gauze, mixtures of oxy¬ 
gen and hydrogen gafes maybe burned without explofion 
until the brafs wire begins to melt. 
It is not neceflary to fay much in commendation of an 
invention which fpeaks fo forcibly by the effefts it has 
already produced. It has been received by the miners at 
Whitehaven and Newcaftle as a gift from heaven, which 
by its aCtion equally excited their thahkfulnefs and their 
attonilhment. We have read with much latisfafttion, a 
paragraph from the Newcaftle Journal, which far out¬ 
weighs all other praife : that, when fir H. Davy lately 
palled through that town, a deputation from a general 
meeting of thofe interefted in the coal-trade of the Tyne 
and Wear waited on him to teftify their refpeft and 
admiration of his great and fplendid difcovery of the 
ftifety-lamp for exploring mines when charged with inflam¬ 
mable gas. “ Meflrs. Watlon and Buddie,” it is added 
(coal-viewers very much diftinguilhed for their Skill and 
accuracy), “ have made a variety of trials with this lamp, 
in places which it was impoflible to approach with a com¬ 
mon candle without certain deftruftion, and have com¬ 
pletely proved its Safety and utility.” And they have fince 
Shown their fenfe of the importance of the difcovery. to 
their interefts and thofe of humanity, by prelenting fir 
Humphry with a handlbme fervice of plate, of the value 
of nearly 2000I. which took place on the nth of Oftober, 
1817, when a grand dinner was given to him at Newcaftle. 
In the July preceding, the wire-gauze lamp had been 
put to decifive proof in one of the collieries, at the Hurlet, 
near Paifley. The mine had been abandoned upwards of 
twelve months, by reafon of the fire-damp. The gradual 
approach to the dangerous gas w-as indicated by the in¬ 
cluded flame of the lamp prelenting a lengthened fpire, 
fo as to brufh the top of the cylinder; on palling the con¬ 
fines of the explofive medium, the wire-gauze became, 
luddenly red hot, and the “ Davy” continued full of 
foreign flame of a fine blue colour. A candle in this 
wafte might have been as deftruftive as any upon record ; 
for it exhibited an explofive atmofpliere from the very 
floor, in an extent of three or four acres. A dreadful 
explofion occurred fome years ago in this mine, by which 
Seventeen perfons perished. 
But this excellent invention has not yet come into ge¬ 
neral ufe ; or we Ihould not have read, that, lb lately as 
Dec. 19, 1817, the explofion of fire-damp in the Plain Pit 
at Rainton Colliery, in the county of Durham, occafioned 
the lofs of feven-and-twenty lives. 
From Mons in Flanders we are informed, (Feb. 1818.) 
that tliefe lamps had been tried in the mines and pits of 
that country, and with the moft complete fuccefs. 
The farther experience of another year, on a more ex¬ 
tended fcale, in our own and other countries, has fully 
confirmed the conclufions to be drawn from the preceding 
Statements ; and we may juftly confider the fafety-lamp a3 
one of the moft valuable prefents which philolophy has 
made to the ufeful arts. 
The above article has been compiled from—Brand’s 
Hift. of Newcaftle ; Wilkes’s Britifh Direftory; Davy on. 
Fire-damp, 1816 ; Phil. Tranf. for 1816, 1817; Monthly 
..Mag. vol. xxxix. xl. xli. xliv. Gent. Mag. for Dec. 1817 ; 
Edinburgh Review, N°5i. 
NEW'CHURCH, a town of Lancafliire: three miles 
weft of Colne. 
NEW'CHURCH, a village five miles fouth-eaft of New¬ 
port in the Ille of Wight.—Near this is the little village 
of St. Lawrence, in a lltuation remarkably romantic, con¬ 
futing of a flip of land fecluded from the adjoining coun¬ 
try by a range of rocky cliffs refembling an immenle ftone 
wall. The village confilts of a few ftraggling cottages, 
with a church the fmaileit in the ifland. The communica¬ 
tion with the village is by a fteep road cut through the cliff. 
NEW'COMB (Thomas), an Englifli divine, poet, and 
tranflator, of conliderable merit, who died about 1764, 
being upwards of ninety years of age. 
NEW'COME (William), a learned and excellent Irifti 
prelate in the 18th century, was a native of England, and 
the fecond fon of the Rev. J-ofeph Newcome, vicar of St. 
Helen’s at Abingdon in Berkshire, and reftor of Barton 
le Clay in Bedfordshire. Fie was born at the latter place, 
on the 10th of April, 1729. He received his education 
in claflical learning at Abingdon grammar-fchool, where 
he diftinguilhed himfelf by his proficiency in the Latin 
and Greek languages, and the fuperior excellence of his 
themes and other fchool-exercifes. In the year 1745, 
having laid a good foundation of elementary learning, be 
was elefted to a fcholarlhip of Pembroke-college, Oxford. 
Here his very extraordinary diligence and clofe applica¬ 
tion to the different departments of academical learning 
were eminently confpicuous; and he took his degree of 
B. A. at the ftatuteable period, and that of M. A. in 1753, 
with 
