of the Centenary of the Birth of Dr. Priestley. 401 



tender to you my thanks for the honour you have conferred upon 

 his memory. His career was, in some respects, that of every person 

 connected with science. In his youth he had to struggle with many 

 difficulties. In his advanced age his love for science was more ad- 

 mired, for science itself was more appreciated. In the United States 

 of America I have seen the mansion in which his life rolled peacefully 

 on. There he would have been perfectly happy, if he could have as- 

 sembled around him some of the friends of the former years of his 

 life, whose society would have delighted him. If I might be per- 

 mitted, without presuming too much on the indugence of the meeting, 

 to propose a toast, I would give that of one of his first friends. I am 

 sure that, in an assembly of Englishmen, the name of Franklin cannot 

 be mentioned without his being regarded as one of the most distin- 

 guished discoverers in science. 

 " The Memory of Dr. Franklin." 



The meeting was addressed, in conclusion of the Proceedings, by 

 J. A. Paris, M.D. F.R.S. 



After what you have heard this evening, and which has thrown a 

 delightful degree of interest around the meeting, I should not have 

 risen did I not feel that you have yet an important duty to perform, 

 which is to drink the health of our worthy friend the President. 



Allow me to make a few observations on the object of this festival. 

 It has been said that a man is no prophet in his own country. I will 

 go further, and say that a man is no philosopher in his own time, 

 and for this obvious reason — that it is the character of a genius to 

 anticipate the age in which he lives. He sees by a species of mental 

 refraction the great light of truth, which is as yet below the horizon. 

 We can revert to the works of our departed philosopher for an illus- 

 tration ; since it is only lately that we have been able to appreciate 

 the utility of those applications to which his discoveries have been 

 subservient. This leads me to the relation of one simple fact. If 

 gentlemen will refer to the first Bakerian lecture delivered by Sir 

 Humphry Davy, they will see that, without the assistance of Dr. 

 Priestley, he could not have arrived, at least so speedily, at those re- 

 sults which have crowned his memory with lasting honours. At this 

 late period of the evening I will not enter into any chemical discus- 

 sion, but will merely state to what I refer. It was well known that 

 water under the influence of voltaic action gives out indications of 

 alkaline and acid matter. It was obvious to Sir Humphry Davy, that 

 the presence of this alkaline and acid matter must have been derived 

 from some foreign ingredient, although Sylvester assumed that the 

 matters in question were actually generated. By a series of experi- 

 ments, unequalled in beauty, Sir Humphry Davy convinced himself 

 that some foreign matter must have interfered ; but he was at a loss 

 to understand how the production of alkaline matter at a certain 

 stage of the process was stationary, while that of the acid matter was 

 progressive : and it was only by reference to the experiments of Dr. 

 Priestley that he was enabled to clear up this doubt and difficulty. 



I now venture to revert to the object I had in view when I rose, 

 TkirdSwies. Vol.2. No.ll. MaylSSd. 3 F 



