210 THE ROYAL INSTITUTION OF GREAT BRITAIN. 



Dr. Beddoes, having founded at Bristol an establisLment (tbe Pneumatic Insti- 

 tution) Avliere the therapeutic properties of the gases might be carefully studied 

 and turned to account, had need of an assistant. On the recommendation of 

 Davios Gilbert (who presided over the Eojal Society of London from 1827 to 

 1S30) he made choice of the young Davy, ^vhose merit he could Avell appreciate 

 from a memoir which the latter had sent him for insertion in a journal which he 

 edited. Davy left for Bristol October 2, 1798, and, the year following, he there 

 discovered the properties of nitrous oxide gas, (})rotoxide of nitrogen,) a discov- 

 ery which rendered his name popular in the three kingdoms. 



VI. — The riKST couese of chemistry given by davy. — the discoveeies 



MADE BY him IIT THE LABOEATOEY OF THE INSTITUTION. 



We have shown how Davy had entered the Royal Institution and the success 

 which he there attained as professor. His lectures took place on Thursdays at 

 2 and 8 o'clock in the afternoon, and on Saturdays at 2. The earlier lectures 

 of the afternoon were devoted to general chemistr}^ those of the evening to its 

 applications. The abstract of his first course has been preserved;* it was 

 divided into three parts : the chemistry of ponderable substances; the chemistry 

 of imponderable substances ; the chemistry of the arts. 



The first of these parts treats: (1) of chemical forces and their modes of 

 application ; (2) of uncompounded substances or simple principles ; (3) of bodies 

 compounded of two simple substances ; (4) of bodies compounded of more than 

 two simple substances ; (5) of sabstances compounded of different compound 

 Ijodies and of simple bodies ; (6) of the general phenomena of chemical action. 

 The second part treats : (1) of heat or caloric; (2) of light; (3) of electrical 

 intluence ; (4) of galvanism. The third part treats: (1) of agriculture; (2) of 

 tanning; (3) of bleaching ; (4) of dyeing; (5) of metallurgy ; (G) of the man- 

 ufacture of glass and porcelain ; (7) of the preparation of solid and licpiid ali- 

 ments ; (8) of the employment of artificial lieat and light. 



Nominated to the incumbency of the chair of chemistry May 31, 1802, Davy 

 resigned it April 5, 1813. He had given his last lecture April 9, 1812, the da}' 

 after that on which he had been knighted b}^ the prince regent, and the eve of 

 his nuptials with Mrs. Apreece, a union which made him master of a large for- 

 tune. He had shed great lustre on the Royal Institution, at the same time that 

 he changed the character which had pervaded the thought of its founder. The 

 Institution was no longer a school of arts and trades, established with a view 

 to the most numerous class of society, but redounded almost exclusively to the 

 profit of the higher classes. '' Ladies of the highest rank," says Cuvier, '' fol- 

 lowed his lectures, together with lords of high degree, and the most distin- 

 guished of the young men." The spirit of research was introduced, and the 

 laboratory of the Institution became the theatre of the most brilliant discoveries. 

 It was there that Davy discovered the laws of electro-chemical decomposition ; 

 succeeded in decomposing the fixed alkalies, established the true nature of 

 chlorine, and the philosophy of flame. The electric battery with which the 

 sc[)aration of potassium and of sodium was effected, and which is still preserved 

 ill the establishvuent with other apparatus used by Davy, consisted of three bat- 

 teries combined, one of 24 square plates of copper and zinc, of 12 inches to the 

 side, another of 100 plates of six inches, and the third of 150 plates of four 

 inches. The discovery of potassium was made October 6, 1807. The pleasure 

 which Davy ex.perienced at seeing the small globules of the new metal spring 

 through the crust of potash and kindle on contact with the air was witnessed 

 l)y his relative and assistant, Ednunul Davy. " Our professor could not restrain 



* A Sylldbus of a Course of Lectures on Chemistry, delivered at the Royal Institution of 

 Great Britain, by II. Davy, professor of chemistry, pp. 91, octavo, London, Cadell &. 

 Davies, J8U2. 



