THE SCIENTIST 171 



" There did I first rejoice that I wag born 

 Amidst the majesty of azure seas." 



Davy received what is usually called a liberal edu- 

 cation, putting in nine years in the Penzance and 

 one year in the Truro Grammar School. His best 

 exercises were translations from the classics into 

 English verse. He was rather idle, fond of fishing 

 (an enthusiasm he retained throughout life) and 

 shooting, and less appreciated and beloved by his 

 masters than by his school-fellows, who recognized 

 his wonderful abilities, sought his aid in their Latin 

 compositions (as well as in the writing of letters and 

 valentines), and listened eagerly to his imaginative 

 tales of wonder and horror. Years later he wrote to 

 his mother : " After all, the way in which we are 

 taught Latin and Greek does not much influence 

 the important structure of our minds. I consider it 

 fortunate that I was left much to myself when a 

 child, and put upon no particular plan of study, and 

 that I enjoyed much idleness at Mr. Coryton's school. 

 I perhaps owe to these circumstances the little talents 

 that I have and their peculiar application." 



When Davy was about sixteen years old, his fa- 

 ther died, leaving the widow and her five children, 

 of whom Humphry was the eldest, with very scanty 

 provision. The mind of the youth seemed to under- 

 go an immediate change. He expressed his resolu- 

 tion (which he nobly carried out) to play his part 

 as son and brother. Within a few weeks he became 

 apprenticed to an apothecary and surgeon, and, hav- 

 ing thus found his vocation, drew up his own par- 

 ticular plan of self-education, to which he rigidly 

 adhered. His brother, Dr. John Davy, bears witness 



