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Extract of a Letter from Mr. John Morris, Plus

Issa, 21th Jan. 1817 . To John Simmons, Esq.

Paddington-house.

“ Sir;—You will be pleased to recollectthat some time in the month of June last, Iapplied to you with a request you wouldsend me immediately some of Sir HumphryDavy’s safety lamps, in consequence of anexplosion of the fire-damp taking place inone of your coal mines, by which several ofthe men were dreadfully burnt and bruised.On the arrival of the safety lamps no accu-rate account of their use accompanied them.But I at length obtained (I think) the Edin-burgh Review, in which was a detail of someexperiments. This I read to the colliers,which gave them some confidence in thelamps, prior to which they secretly treatedthem with silent contempt; and I found,notwithstanding these interesting details,that a great doubt existed in their minds. Itherefore was obliged to give the most pe-remptory orders to prepare to descend, andassisting in every preparation and executionmyself. But the men’s wives, &c. had col-lected, and made so much noise and lamen-

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