THE ROYAL INSTITUTION OF GREAT BRITAIN. 209 



niary following, tlie future president of tlie Royal Society of London was enrolled 

 in tlie service of the Institution as assistant professor of chemistry, director of 

 the laboratory, and joint editor of the journals of the establishment. The pro- 

 ceedino's of the directors import that he should be allowed to occupy a room in 

 the house, be furnished Avith coals and candles, and be paid a salary of 100 

 guineas a year.* 



Davy arrived in London the 11 th of March. His first lecture completely 

 justified the expectations of his patrons, nor was he long in becoming extremely 

 popular through his natural eloquence, his chemical acquirements, and the suc- 

 cess which crowned all his experiments. His first interview with Eumford, it 

 would seem, had not been favorable. At the almost childish appearance of the 

 candidate, his rather provincial manner, accompanied by some remains of the 

 Cornish dialect, Count Rumford, who did not shine in point of aff'ability, became 

 more frozen than usual ; it Avas with difficulty that Davy obtained leave to give, 

 m a private apartment of the house, a few lectures on the properties of gases ; 

 but he needed nothing more. ''From the first, the variety of his ideas, their 

 ingenious combinations, the warmth, the vivacity, the perspicuity, even the nov- 

 elty of their mode of statement, all the charms that the combined talents of the 

 poet, the orator, and the philosopher could lend to the instructions of the chemist, 

 enchanted the small number of those who had ventured to come and hear him. 

 With so much enthusiasm did they speak of him that at the second lecture the 

 room which had been assigned him could not contain the throng which presented 

 itself, and it was necessary to transfer his course to the great amphitheatre of 

 the establishment. The youthfulness of a professor just emerging from adoles- 

 cence, his handsome face, his ingenuous manner, scarcely contributed less than 

 his eloquence to conciliate affection." (Cuvier, Ehge Historuine, dx) . 



Davy (born December 17, 1778, at Penzance, a small town of Cornwall) was 

 then 22 years of age. Son of a carver in wood, he had early entered, as appren- 

 tice, the ofiftce of a skilful surgeon of his native place, who at the same time con- 

 ducted a pharmaceutical cstal)lishment. It was Davy's intention to become a 

 physician, but the plan of study Aviiich he had traced for himself embraced seven 

 languages, from English to Hebrew, and all the moral and physical sciences, 

 from theology and astronomy to rhetoric and mechanics. It is somewhat remark- 

 able that he'does not seem to have seriously occupied himself with chemistry 

 until he had attained his 19th year. From that time he devoted himself to it 

 with all the ardor of his temperament ; and his eldest sister, who lent her services 

 to assist him, well remembered the damage sustained by her dresses from corro- 

 sive substances. (Paris, Life of Ucu)j.J 



His resources were very limited, like those of Priestley and Scheelc at their 

 entrance upon the Kime career. His apparatus consisted principally of phials, 

 wine glasses, tea cups, tobacco pipes, and earthen pipkins, and his materials 

 were chiefly the mineral acids, the alkalies, and some other articles of which use 

 is made in medicine. He commenced his experiments in his sleeping-room, and 

 when he had need of fire, descended w-ith his vessels to the kitchen. (Memoirs 

 of the Life of Sir Humplircy Davi/, by his brother, John Davy, London, 1836.) 

 A shipwreck which occurred on the coast procured him some unexpected resources. 

 He had the good luck to lay hands on a box of surgical instruments. Among 

 them there happened to be a common syringe ; of this he constructed an air 

 pump! "During his whole life," says Cuvier, "he continued to make use of 

 ever3'thing that came to hand in the service of his researches; and the sim- 

 plicity of his apparatus Avas not less remarkable than the originality of his 

 experiments and the elevation of his views." 



* It was the inteution of Count Rumford to try Davy as professor, and to j^ive bim the 

 succession of Dr. Garuett, whose services the Institution was on the point of losing. "Lit- 

 tle acconiQiodaiiug; in his disposition, Count Ruuitbrd had already broken with his professor 

 Df chemistry, Dr. Garnett." (G. Cuvier, Eloge Historique dc Sir Hiaitphrci) Davy.) 



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