Colliery was effected completely, and the workmen resumed their labours; but in little more than a year -namely, on the 24th December, 1813, another explosion occurred in the same mine, and killed twentythree persons, and twelve horses; twenty-one individuals escaped, thirteen of whom were severely burnt. This explosion was certainly every way much less severe than the former; but as it happened when the morning shift of men were relieving the night shift, it might have been much more destructive than in fact it was: for a group of the fresh men were waiting to go down; and those who had just descended met the fatal whirlwind of fire in their way to the southern boards, which lie under the village of High Felling. That part of the mine was intersected with several dykes and fissures, which not unfrequently discharged great quantities of inflammable air, through the apertures called blowers, already described, and which made the small coals on the floor dance round their orifices, like gravel in a strong spring. Whether this accident was attributable to the falling of some matter so as to prevent the regular ventilation of the wastes, or to some neglect of the standing orders at the rarifying furnace in the upcast pit, could not be satisfactorily discovered; but so powerful was the stream of fresh air in all the workings, that the persons employed were unanimous in declaring, that they never wrought in a pit so wholesome and pleasant.

While the present sheet is passing through the press, the immediate neighbourhood of the abovementioned accidents is in a state of indescribable distraction, in consequence of the occurrence of a catastrophe similar in nature, but still more disastrous in

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the amount of fatality connected with it; indeed the oldest inhabitants of the district do not remember any thing equal to it as regards loss of life. On the afternoon of June 18th, 1835, an explosion of inflammable gas took place in the works of what is called "the Church Pit," in the Wallsend Colliery, by which one hundred and one human beings-about three-fourths of them boys were suddenly hurried into eternity! It is unnecessary to go into the details of this appalling calamity: it may, however, be remarked that the works, which had been regularly inspected in the morning by the "under viewers," were considered in every respect safe and secure; so that whether the accident is to be referred to some of the miners having incautiously removed the head of their safety lamps, or to some other cause, will probably ever remain a mystery; as four persons-all who were saved-can give no account of the affair. Several of the bodies were black, shrivelled, and burnt; one or two were mutilated; but the greater number, as commonly happens in these cases, having been suffocated by the stythe or after-damp, had the appearance of being in a tranquil sleep. It appeared, indeed, from evidence offered on the Coroner's inquest, that by far the greater part of the sufferers had deliberately left the spot where they were at work, on hearing the explosion, and would in all probability have been saved, had not the fire-blast blown down various matters, so as to obstruct ventilation and ascent by the main shaft; and thus the victims perished by unexpected suffocation when fleeing for their lives. In 1821 there was an explosion in the same colliery, by which fifty-two lives were lost.

CHAPTER XIV.

THE SAFETY LAMP.

Circumstances which led to the formation of a Society for Preventing Accidents in Collieries-Application to Sir Humphrey Davy-Chemical Composition of the inflammable Gas of the Mines-Will not explode in small Tubes, nor from contact with red-hot Iron or Charcoal-First Safe Lantern-Wire-Gauze Cage-Description of the Common Safety Lamp— Testimonials of respect to Sir H. Davy-Opinions of Mr. Buddle and Mr. Fenwick in favour of the Davy"—Petition of the Staffordshire Colliers— Circumstances under which Explosions have taken place in connexion with the Davy Lamp.

IF the appalling circumstances detailed in the preceding Chapter, comprising, as they do, but a very small part of the catalogue of calamities of that class, are calculated to make the least sensitive individual shudder with horror, by how much more must the public, and the pitmen especially, have been laid under obligation by those persons who have devised the means of lessening the number of such occurrences or rather, invented a method of preventing them altogether. It was impossible, says Dr.

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Paris,* after alluding to the first catastrophe at Felling Colliery, that an event of such awful magnitude should not have deeply affected every humane person resident in the district. Nothing, in short, could exceed the anxiety which was manifested on the occasion; but most unfortunately there existed an invincible prejudice against every proposition that could be offered, from a general impression of the utter hopelessness of any attempt to discover a remedy. A few philosophic individuals, however, did form themselves into an association for the laudable purpose of inviting the attention of scientific men to the subject, and of obtaining from them any suggestions which might lead to a more secure method of lighting the mines.

To the Rev. Doctor Gray, the late Bishop of Bristol, and who, at the period of the explosions at Felling, was Rector of Bishop-Wearmouth, Dr. Paris acknowledges himself indebted for the several highly interesting communications, by means of which he has "been enabled to present to the scientific world a complete history of those proceedings which have so happily led to a discovery, of which it is not too much to say that it is, at once, the pride of science, the triumph of humanity, and the glory of the age in which we live." It was at a time when all relief was deemed hopeless, that Mr. Wilkinson, a barrister in London, and a gentleman distinguished for the humanity of his disposition, suggested the

* "Life of Sir Humphrey Davy, by J. A. Paris, M.D. &c." From this source, as considered the most circumstantial and authentic, the present Chapter, on the subject of the Safety Lamp, is chiefly drawn. The work is altogether one of delightful interest. There have been several claimants of, and endless discussions upon, the invention of the Safety Lamp, explicit allusion to which will be found in the work here mentioned.

expediency of establishing a Society for the purpose of enquiring whether any, and what, methods of security could be adopted for the prevention of those accidents at that time so frequently occurring in the collieries of Northumberland and Durham. In consequence of this benevolent suggestion, a Society was established at Bishop-Wearmouth, on the 1st of October, 1813. A few days before the first meeting, twenty-seven persons had been killed in a colliery in which Sir Ralph Milbanke had an interest; he was, therefore, called upon at the first meeting to state the particulars of the accident. At that time, as Dr. Gray states, there was such little expectation that any means could be devised to prevent the occurrence of these explosions, that the object of the gentlemen who convened the meeting, however humane in principle, was considered by most of the persons present as chimerical and visionary. The Society, however, amidst many difficulties and considerable discouragement, and a perpetual harass by the offer of impracticable schemes from every quarter, nevertheless persevered in their meetings, and succeeded in establishing a communication and correspondence with other Societies in different parts of the kingdom.

It was in consequence of a private communication from Dr. Gray to his friend Sir Humphrey Davy, that the latter was first led to apply his profound chemical knowledge to an investigation of the nature of the inflammable gas of the coal mines, and also to a discovery of the best means for preventing the occurrence of accidents from this "fire damp," as it was called. In August 1815, Davy visited Newcastle-upon-Tyne, where he had an interview with