In the early days of coal-mining the explosions caused by this gas soon received the serious attention of the scientific men of the age.  In the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society we find a record of a gas explosion in 1677.  The amusing part of such records was that the explosions were ascribed by the miners to supernatural agencies.  Little attention seemed to have been paid to the fact, which has since so thoroughly been established, that the explosions were caused by accumulations of gas, mixed in certain proportions with air.  As a consequence, tallow candles with an exposed flame were freely used, especially in Britain.  These were placed in niches in the workings, where they would give to the pitman the greatest amount of light.  Previous to the introduction of the safety-lamp, workings were tested before the men entered them, by “trying the candle”.  Owing to the specific gravity of fire-damp (.555) being less than that of air, it always finds a lodgement at the roofs of the workings, so that, to test the condition of the air, it was necessary to steadily raise the candle to the roof at certain places in the passages, and watch carefully the action of the flame.  The presence of fire-damp would be shown by the flame assuming a blue colour, and by its elongation; the presence of other gases could be detected by an experienced man by certain peculiarities in the tint of the flame.  This testing with the open flame has almost entirely ceased since the introduction of the perfected Davy lamp.

The use of candles for illumination soon gave place in most of the large collieries to the introduction of small oil-lamps.  In the less fiery mines on the Continent, oil-lamps of the well-known Etruscan pattern are still in use, whilst small metal lamps, which can conveniently be attached to the cap of the worker, occasionally find favour in the shallower Scotch mines.  These lamps are very useful in getting the coal from the thinner seams, where progress has to be made on the hands and feet.  At the close of the last century, as workings began to be carried deeper, and coal was obtained from places more and more infested with fire-damp, it soon came to be realised that the old methods of illumination would have to be replaced by others of a safer nature.

It is noteworthy that mere red heat is insufficient in itself to ignite fire-damp, actual contact with flame being necessary for this purpose.  Bearing this in mind, Spedding, the discoverer of the fact, invented what is known as the “steel-mill” for illuminating purposes.  In this a toothed wheel was made to play upon a piece of steel, the sparks thus caused being sufficient to give a moderate amount of illumination.  It was found, however, that this method was not always trustworthy, and lamps were introduced by Humboldt in 1796, and by Clanny in 1806.  In these lamps the air which fed the flame was isolated from the air of the mine by having to bubble through a liquid.  Many miners were not, however, provided with these lamps, and the risks attending naked lights went on as merrily as ever.