6 Biographknl Memoir of the late Dr Henry. 



or so noble a company of hearers. Among the latter were 

 numbered Marcet, Roget, De la Rive, Thomson, Allen, Scar- 

 lett, and Jeffrey ; and Lord Brougham as a youthful disputant 

 in the Speculative, and occasionally in the Physical and Medi- 

 cal Societies, was giving evidence of those native energies of 

 genius and character, which have since borne him to the high- 

 est judicial and political station in this country. 



Breathing such an exciting atmosphere, and urged onwards 

 by his own ardent spirit, Dr Henry devoted his entire time and 

 strength to mental improvement ; and bas often affirmed that 

 the rest of his life, active as it was, appeared a state of inglo- 

 rious repose, when contrasted with this season of unremitted 

 effort. It was, therefore, with deep regret, that after a year 

 thus spent, he quitted the University, in deference to prudential 

 considerations, with little prospect of ever revisiting it as a stu- 

 dent ; and engaged in association with his father in general 

 medical practice. After a few years'' experience, however, the 

 inadequacy of his delicate frame to bear up against the fatigues 

 of this branch of the profession became evident, and he was 

 permitted, in the year 1805, to return to the University, where 

 he received, in 1807, the diploma of "Doctor in Medicine." 



The period intervening between his two academic residences, 

 though passed in the engrossing occupations of his profession, 

 to which was added the superintendence of a chemical business, 

 many years before established by his father, was yet marked 

 by several important contributions to science. In 1797, he 

 communicated to the Royal Society an experimental memoir, 

 the design of which was to re-establish., — in opposition to con- 

 clusions drawn by Dr Austin, and sanctioned by the approval 

 of Dr Beddoes and other eminent chemists, — the title of carbon 

 to be ranked among elementary bodies. His proofs were de- 

 rived from the electrization of an impure carburetted hydrogen 

 gas ; but it is needless to particularize the experiments, since 

 in a subsequent paper he made known a source of fallacy which 

 had vitiated their results. They have value, therefore, chiefly 

 as suggesting encouragement to the young, by shewing that 

 Dr Henry had to pass through a stage of tentative initiation 

 before reaching the consummate skill which afterwards dis- 



