176 Dr. Hare on a new Theory of Galvanism, [Sept. 



published ; * and entered into a critical examination of its 

 merits, with a strength of memory and judgment that would not 

 have discredited the meridian of his faculties. In his moral 

 character, no change was observable, except that a too great 

 quickness of feeling, of which he had himself been fully con- 

 scious, was softened into a serene and complacent temper of 

 mind, varied only by the occasional glow of those benevolent 

 emotions which continued to exist in him, with unabated ardour, 

 almost to his latest hour. He still continued to receive great 

 pleasure from the society of the young ; and to them he was 



})eculiarly acceptable, from the kindness and success with which 

 le studied to promote their rational enjoyments. It was his 

 constant habit to take a cheerful view of the condition of the 

 world ; and on all occasions, when the contrary opinion was 

 advanced, to assert the superiority of the times in which he had 

 grown old over the season of his youth, not only on the unques- 

 tionable ground of an increased diffusion of knowledge, but on 

 that of the wider spread of virtuous principles, and the more 

 general prevalence of virtuous habits. 



Without encroaching on topics which are wisely forbidden by 

 the rules of this Society, it may be permitted to me to state, 

 that Mr. Henry was, from inquiry and conviction, a zealous advo- 

 cate of Christianity. About the middle period of life, a change 

 of opinion led him to separate from the established church, to 

 whose service he had early been destined; and to join a congre- 

 gation of protestant dissenters. But in discussing differences 

 of religious belief, he was always ready to concede to others 

 that free right of judgmtnt which he had claimed and exercised 

 for himself; convinced, as he was, that no conclusion to which 

 the understanding mav be led in the honest and zealous search 

 after religious truth can, Avithout the highest injustice, be made 

 the ground of moral crimination or reproach. 



Article II. 



A nexo Theory of Galvanism, supported by some Experiments and 

 Observations made by Means of the Calorimotor, a new Galvanic 

 Instrument ; also a new Mode of decomposing Potash extempo- 

 raneously. Read before the Academy of Natural Sciences, 

 Philadelphia. By Robert Hare, M.D. Professor of Chemistry 

 in the Medical Department of The University of Pennsylvania, 

 and Member of several learned Societies. (With a Plate.) 



I have for some time been of opinion that the principle extri- 

 cated by the voltaic pile is a compound of caloric and electricity^- 

 both being original and collateral products of galvanic action. 



* Dr. Stanier Clark's Life of James II. 



