As recent colliery explosions have attracted a considerable amount of attention to the principle of the safety-lamp, and questions have arisen respecting the extent of the immunity which the action of this lamp secures to the miner, it may be well for me briefly to point out the true qualities of the lamp.

In the Davy lamp a common oil-light is surrounded by a cylinder of wire-gauze. When the air around the lamp is pure the flame burns as usual, and the only effect of the gauze is somewhat to diminish the amount of light given out by the lamp. But so soon as the air becomes loaded with the carburetted hydrogen gas generated in the coal-strata, a change takes place. The flame grows larger and less luminous. The reason of the change is this:—The flame is no longer fed by the oxygen of the air, but is surrounded by an atmosphere which is partly inflammable; and the inflammable part of the gas, so260 fast as it passes within the wire cylinder, is ignited and burns within the gauze. Thus the light now given out by the lamp is no longer that of the comparatively brilliant oil flame, but is the light resulting from the combustion of carburetted hydrogen, or ‘fire damp,’ as it is called; and every student of chemistry is aware that the flame of this gas has very little illuminating power.

So soon as the miner sees the flame thus enlarged and altered in appearance he should retire. But it is not true that explosion would necessarily follow if he did not do so. The danger is great because the flame within the lamp is in direct contact with the gauze, and if there is any defect in the wire-work, the heat may make for itself an opening which—though small—would yet suffice to enable the flame within the lamp to ignite the gas outside. So long, however, as the wire-gauze continues perfect, even though it become red-hot, there will be no explosion. No authority is required to establish this point, which has been proved again and again by experiment; but I quote Professor Tyndall’s words on the subject to remove some doubts which have been entertained on the matter. ‘Although a continuous explosive atmosphere,’ he says,261 ‘may extend from the air outside through the meshes of the gauze to the flame within, ignition is not propagated across the gauze. The lamp may be filled with an almost lightless flame; still explosion does not occur. A defect in the gauze, the destruction of the wire at any point by oxidation hastened by the flame playing against it, would cause explosion;’ and so on. It need hardly be said, however, that, imprudent as miners have often been, no miner would remain where his lamp burned with the enlarged flame indicative of the presence of fire-damp. The lamp should also be at once extinguished.

But here we touch on a danger which undoubtedly exists, and—so far as has yet been seen—cannot be guarded against by any amount of caution. Supposing the miner sought to extinguish the lamp by blowing it out, an explosion would almost certainly ensue, since the flame can be forced mechanically through the meshes, though it will not pass through them when it is burning in the ordinary way. Now of course no miner who had been properly instructed in the use of the safety-lamp would commit such a mistake as this. But it happens, unfortunately, that sometimes the fire-damp itself forces the flame of the lamp through the meshes. The gas frequently issues with great force from cavities in the coal (in which it has been pent up), when the pick of the miner breaks an opening for it. In these circumstances an explosion is inevitable, if the issuing stream of gas happen to be directed full upon the lamp. Fortunately, however, this is a contingency which does not often arise. It is one of those risks of coal-mining which seem absolutely unavoidable by any amount of care or caution. It would be well if it were only such risks as these that the miner had to face.

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Another peculiarity sometimes noticed when there is a discharge of fire-damp is worth mentioning. It happens, oc............