88 Biographical Account of 



in the same field, the memory of this invention would have 

 remained unsullied ; but justice demands that facts should 

 be candidly stated, and that the biographer of Davy should 

 omit none even of the features of the transactions*. 



In 1817, Humphry communicated two papers to the 

 Royal Society; one " On the fallacy of experiments in 

 which water is said to have been formed by the decompo- 

 sition of Chlorine;" and the other on *' New experiments 

 on some of the combinations of phosphorus. 



Between 1815 and 1818, he made several journies to the 

 North of England and Scotland, partly in connexion with 

 his investigations " relative to fire damp, but chiefly for 

 the sake of fishing and shooting," and one of these excur- 

 sions extended as far as the Orkney Islands. Several ex- 

 tracts from his note books, written about this period, ex- 

 hibit his opinions upon general subjects — " When young 

 shoots grow on a rotten branch," he observes, " the only 

 way to save them is to detach them. Analogy— Rotten 

 aristocracies and governments, and young and vigorous 

 life amongst the people." *' Persons of very exhalted ta- 

 lents and virtues may be said to derive their patent of 

 nobility directly from God ; their titles are not registered 

 in perishable court calendars, but written in the great his- 

 tories of Nature or of man." These and other occasional 

 productions are only interesting in so far as they show the 

 general bent of his mind, which appears to have been to 

 view general subjects in a kind of poetical light ; not to 

 grasp them with a firm gripe, but to allow them to glide 

 away in a smooth and harmonious manner. Thus he dis- 

 cusses the eff'ects of the national debt, as being praise- 

 worthy, without even a passing thought of its baneful 

 influence on the country, and disapproves of the Walcheren 

 expedition, merely because the scene of its exploits was a 

 foggy country. He speaks of the advantage of having 

 philosophers in the cabinet, instead of* empty-headed de- 

 claimers and empty-pursed cadets from the aristocracy;" 

 and yet adds, *' Any philosopher would have warned go- 

 vernment against the importation of corn, which is now 

 weighing down the country by a diminished circulation." 



• We understand that the documents concerning safety lamps, in favour of the 

 claims of Dr. Clannj-, are in the hands of Mr. Pease, M.P. 



