Wall's-end Colliery, August 24, 1815.
SIR,
Permit me to offer my best acknowledgments for the opportunity which your attention to the cause of humanity has afforded me of being introduced to Sir Humphry Davy.
I was this morning favoured with a call from him, and he was accompanied by the Rev. Mr. Hodgson. He made particular enquiries into the nature of the danger arising from the discharge of the inflammable gas in our mines. I shall supply him with a quantity of the gas to analyze; and he has given me reason to expect that a substitute may be found for the steel mill, which will not fire the gas. He seems also to think it possible to generate a gas, at a moderate expense, which, by mixing with the atmospheric current, will so far neutralize the inflammable air, as to prevent it firing at the candles of the workmen.
If he should be so fortunate as to succeed in either the one or the other of these points, he will render the most essential benefit to the mining interest of this country, and to the cause of humanity in particular.
I have little doubt but it will be gratifying to you to be informed, that progress is making towards the establishment of a permanent fund for the relief of sufferers by accident and sickness in the collieries of this district.
I have the pleasure to remain, with great respect, Sir, your most obedient, humble servant,
John Buddle.
Sir H. Davy on his return to London, having been supplied by Mr. Buddle with various specimens of fire-damp, proceeded, in the first instance, to submit to a minute chemical examination the substance with which he had to contend.
In less than a fortnight, he informed Dr. Gray by letter, that he had discovered some new and unexpected properties in the gas, which had led to no less than four different plans for lighting the mines with safety.