Sir Humphry Davy. 225 
of battle or on the stormy deep ; and, we may venture to add, with a 
spirit as fearless as that of the warrior or the navigator. Even the 
alchymists groped their way amid tremendous elements, which, (in 
some mysterious manner they were unable to explain,) not unfre- 
quently gave them most durable proofs of the energies of the powers 
of nature. A lost eye, a dismembered limb, or a scorched and crisp- 
ed visage, bore frequent testimony of the conflicts they had carried on 
with the powers of darkness. If men of science have now learned 
to control these ordinary dangers, they have encountered others still 
of ano less formidable character. Some have ascended the air in 
balloons ; others have climbed to heights to which the eagle never 
soars; others have braved the terrors of a polar winter ; some have 
descended into the fiery craters of volcanoes ; and some have waged 
war with the lightning of heaven. * 
We have dwelt the longer on this period of the life of Sir Hum- 
phry, because during this period, short as it was, many of his great 
qualities, both moral and intellectual, were fully developed. We are 
next to view him in a new sphere of life. The Royal Institution of 
Great Britain, founded by the exertions and influence of our country- 
man Count Rumford, for the purpose of promoting the general dif- 
fusion of useful knowledge, and the improvement of the mechanic 
arts, had just come into operation ; and so strong was the impression 
made in favor of young Davy by the volume of Researches, that he 
was immediately after its publication, designated by Count Rumford 
to fill the chemical chair in that Institution. The nature of this es- 
tablishment concurred with his own practical turn of mind, to lead 
fair and upright mind ; for this was his first essay in the application 
of chemisity to the arts, since he had entered on his office at the 
Royal Institution, while high and probably extravagant expectations 
were entertained by the public, respecting the light that was to shine 
upon the arts from the torch of science, to be held out to them from 
Vou. XVIL—No. 2. 2 
