98 INTRODUCTORY NARRATIVE. [Lesson I. 



Biographers inform us that Humphry Davy received the rudiments of a classical 

 education at a seminary in Truro, and that he was afterwards placed with a surgeon and 

 apothecary, at Penzancc. Instead of paying proper attention to his medical studies, 

 Davy was always making experiments in the garret of his master's house, frequently 

 alarming the whole household by his detonations; or rambling about the con: 

 that his master was obliged to part with him. "When fifteen years of age, he was 

 placed _with Mr. Borlase, another surgeon in Penzance ; but his mind was too much 

 occupied with other subjects to allow him to follow his medical studies. He laid down 

 an extensive plan of study for himself, which embraced the learned languages, natural 

 philosophy, botany, geometry, anatomy, metaphysics, history, chemistry, &c. ; and so 

 great was his application, that in three years he had made considerable proficiency in 

 all these branches of learning. 



The fascinating science of Chemistry was peculiarly suited to the taste of Davy, and 

 we are informed that he pursued the study of it with the greatest ardour. He was not 

 furnished with expensive apparatus to enable him to prosecute his investigations, but 

 he managed to convert the phials and gallipots belonging to his master, the pots and 

 pans used in the kitchen, and many other things, to the purposes he required. 



His first original experiment is said to have been the examination of the air contained 

 in the bladders of sea-weed, which resulted in his discovering that these plants have the 

 property of purifying the air contained in water, the same as other plants have of 

 purifying the atmosphere. 



Mr. Gregory Watt, the son of the celebrated James Watt, being in delicate health, 

 was advised to try the air of Penzance, and, while lodging with Mrs. Davy, he discovered 

 the talent of her son, and his devotion to Chemistry. One day, soon after Mr. Watt 

 became his mother's lodger, young Davy was leaning on the gate in front of the house, 

 when Mr. Gilbert, afterwards the President of the Royal Society, passed with some 

 friends, one of whom remarked that Davy was much attached to Chemistry. This 

 attracted Mr. Gilbert's attention towards Davy, and after some conversation with him, 

 he was so pleased with his talents that he offered him the use of his library, and what- 

 ever he required for his studies. In 1798 Davy was introduced to the celebrated 

 Dr. Beddoes by Mr. Watt and Mr. Gilbert, and as that physician had just established at 

 Clifton, near Bristol, what he called a Pneumatic Institution, for investigating the 

 medical properties of the different gases, he offered Davy, who was scarcely twenty 

 years of age, the superintendence of the institution, which was accepted at once. 



The following year Dr. Beddoes published a work, called Contributions to Physical and 

 Medical Knowledge, principally from the West of England, and among them we find some 

 essays by Humphry Davy on " Heat, Light, and the Combinations of Light," with ;i 

 new "Theory of Respiration ;" on the " Generation of Oxygen Gases," and the " ( 

 of the colours of Organic Bodies." 



His attention was then turned to the existence of silica in various plants ; and in 

 1800 he published a work, called Researches, Chemical and Philosophical, chiefly concerning 

 Kitrous Oxide, and its Respiration, in which he detailed all the experiments made with 

 this and other gases. This work created a great sensation, and was the me;.. 

 introducing him to Count llumford, and also establishing his reputation as a chemist 

 and philosopher. 



In 1801 Davy came to London, and delivered his first Lecture at the Royal Institu- 

 tion, to which he was appointed Professor o. c Chemistry, on 31st May, 1802. The 



