306 FRAGMENTS OF SCIENCE. 
certain recklessness of thought, and, without halting to 
extricate his bewildered followers, he would dash alone 
through the jungle into which he had unwittingly led 
them; thus saving them from ennui by the exhibition of 
a vigor which, for the time being, they could neither share 
nor comprehend. 
In October, 1813, he quitted England with Sir Humphry 
and Lady Davy. During his absence he kept a journal, 
from which copious and interesting extracts have been 
made by Dr. Bence Jones. Davy was considerate, prefer- 
ring at times to be his own servant rather than impose on 
Faraday duties which he disliked. But Lady Davy was the 
reverse. She treated him as an underling; he chafed 
under the treatment, and was often on the point of return- 
ing home. They halted at Geneva. De la Rive, the 
elder, had known Davy in 1799, and, by his writings in the 
" Bibliotheque Britannique," had been the first to make 
the English chemist's labors known abroad. He welcomed 
Davy to his country residence in 1814. Both were sports- 
men, and they often went out shooting together. On these 
occasions Faraday charged Davy's gun while De la Rive 
charged his own. Once the Genevese philosopher found 
himself by the side of Faraday, and in his frank and genial 
way entered into conversation with the young man. It 
was evident that a person possessing such a charm of 
manner and such high intelligence could be no mere 
servant. On inquiry De la Rive was somewhat shocked to 
find that the soidisant domestique\v&s re&\\y preparateur in 
the laboratory of the Royal Institution; and he immediately 
proposed that Faraday thenceforth should join the masters 
instead of the servants at their meals. To this Davy, probably 
out of weak deference to his wife, objected; but an ar- 
rangement was come to that Faradav thenceforward should 
have his food in his own room. Rumor states that a dinner 
in honor of Faraday was given by De la Rive. This is a 
delusion; there was no such banquet; but Faraday never 
forgot the kindness of the friend who saw his merit when 
he was a mere gar p on de laboratoire.* 
* While confined last autumn at Geneva by the effects of a fall in 
the Alps, my friends, with a kindness I can never forget, did all 
that friendship could suggest to render my captivity pleasant to 
me. M. De la Rive then wrote out for me the full account, of 
which the foregoing is a condensed abstract. It was at the desire of 
