In making his numerous experiments, Davy had observed that iron-wire gauze is such a good conductor of heat that a flame enclosed in such gauze could not pass readily through meshes to ignite a gas on the outside. He found by experiment that a considerable quantity of explosive gas might be brought into contact with the gauze surrounding a flame, and no explosion occur. At the same time this gas would give warning of its presence by changing the color of the flame. When a lamp was made with a surrounding gauze having seven hundred and eighty meshes to the square inch, it was found to give sufficient light and at the same time to be practically non-explosive in the presence of ordinary quantities of gas. One would suppose that such a life-saving invention would have been eagerly adopted by the men whose lives it protected; but, as a matter of fact, owing to certain inconveniences of Davy's lamps, many miners refused to use them until forced to do so by the mine-owners. One of these disadvantages was that this safety lamp gave a poor light overhead. This is particularly annoying to the miner, who wishes always to watch the condition of the ceiling under which he is working. When not under constant observation, therefore, a miner would frequently remove the gauze of the lamp and work by the open flame, regardless of consequences. Or again, he would sometimes forgetfully use the flame for lighting his pipe. To overcome the possibility of such forgetfulness or wilful disobedience, it was found necessary to equip safety lamps with locking devices, so that the miner had no means of access to the open flame of his lamp once it had been lighted. Since the time of the first Davy safety lamp there have been numerous improvements in mechanical details, although the general principle remains unchanged. One of these improvements is a device whereby the lamp, when accidentally extinguished, may be relighted without opening it, and without the use of matches. This is done by means of little strips of paper containing patches of a fulminating substance which is ignited by friction, working on the same principle as the paper percussion caps used on toy pistols. But even the improved safety lamp seems likely to disappear from mines within the next few years, now that electricity has come into such general use. As yet, however, no satisfactory portable electric lamp or lantern has been perfected, such lamps being as a rule too heavy, expensive, and unreliable. Even if these defects were remedied, the advantage would still lie with the Davy lamp, since the electric lamp, being enclosed, cannot be used for the detection of fire damp. But this advantage of the safety lamp is becoming less important, since well-regulated mines are now more thoroughly ventilated, and the danger from fire damp correspondingly lessened.