[ 426 ] 



LVI. Notices respecting New Books. 



'The Life of Sir Humphry Davy, Bart. LL.D. late President of the 

 Royal Society, Foreign Associate of the Royal Institute oj" France, 

 S^c. &;c. By John Ayrton Paris, M.D. Cantab. F.R.S. Sfc. 

 Felloxu of the Royal College of Physicians. 



[Concluded from page 386.] 



AFTER completing the history of the Safety-lamp, Dr. Paris 

 briefly notices the Geological Society of Cornwall, and the pa- 

 tronage and support which it received from Sir H. Davy : to this 

 Society he communicated a memoir on the Geology of Cornwall, 

 which was published in the first volume of its Transactions. Of 

 this paper Dr. Paris gives an analysis, and then proceeds to exhibit 

 Sir Humphry in quite a new field ofinquiry, — that of discovering a 

 method for unrolling tiie ancient Papyri. " It occurred to him," says 

 Dr. Paris, " that as chlorine and iodine do not exert any action upon 

 pure carbonaceous substances, while they possess a strong attrac- 

 tion for hydrogen, these bodies might probably be applied with 

 success for the purpose of destroying the adhesive matter, without 

 the possibility of injuring the letters of the Papyri, the ink of the 

 ancients, as it is well known, being composed of charcoal. He ac- 

 cordingly exposed a fragment of a broAvn manuscript, in which the 

 layers were strongly adherent, to an atmosphere of chlorine ; there 

 was an immediate action, the papyrus smoked, and became yellow, 

 and the letters appeared much more distinct. After which, by the 

 application of heat, the layers separated from each other, and fumes 

 of muriatic acid were evolved. The vapour of iodine had a less 

 distinct, but still a very sensible action. By the simple application 

 of heat to a fragment in a close vessel filled with carbonic acid, or 

 with the vapour of aether, so regulated as to raise the temperature 

 very gradually, and as gradually to reduce it, there was a marked 

 improvement in the texture of the papyrus, and its leaves were more 

 easily unrolled. In all these preliminary trials, however, he found 

 that the success of the experiment absolutely depended upon the 

 nicety with which the temperature was regulated." 



So great indeed was the care required in performing this opera- 

 tion, that the plan proposed was incapable of application to any 

 useful extent ; indeed, the condition of the Papyri was such, that 

 it would have been sufficient to damp the ardour and paralyze the 

 exertion of any one less accustomed to combat and conquer dif- 

 ficulties than was Davy. An account of the various processes may be 

 found in his paper, entitled, " Some Observations and Experiments 

 on the Papyri found in the Ruins of Herculaneum," which was read 

 before the Royal Society on the 15th of March 1821, and published 

 in the Transactions for that year*. 



Although the liquefaction of the gases is a subject more connected 

 with the name of Faraday than with that of Davy, we cannot resist the 

 temptation to insert the following statement from Dr. Paris: "Every 



• This paper will also be found in the Phil. Mag. vol. Iviii. p. 421. 



incident. 



