340 FRAGMENTS OF SCIENCE. 



time was almost without a parallel : his glory was without 

 a cloud. He had added to his other discoveries that of 

 Faraday, and after having been his teacher for seven years, 

 his language to him was this : " It gives me great pleasure 

 to hear that you are comfortable at the Royal Institution, 

 and I trust that you will not only do something good and 

 honorable for yourself, but also for science." This is not 

 the language of jealousy, potential or actual. But the 

 chlorine business introduced irritation and anger, to which, 

 and not to any ignobler motive, Davy's opposition to the 

 election of Faraday to the Royal Society is, I am per- 

 suaded, to be ascribed. 



These matters are touched upon with perfect candor 

 and becoming consideration in the volumes of Dr. Bence 

 Jones, but in " society " they are not always so handled. 

 Here a name of noble intellectual associations is surrounded 

 by injurious rumors which I would willingly scatter for- 

 ever. The pupil's magnitude and the splendor of his posi- 

 tion are too great and absolute to need as a foil the humilia- 

 tion of his master. Brothers in intellect, Davy and Fara- 

 day, however, could never have become brothers in feeling ; 

 their characters were too unlike. Davy loved the pomp 

 and circumstance of fame, Faraday the inner consciousness 

 that he had fairly won renown. They were both proud 

 men. But with Davy pride projected itself into the outer 

 world, while with Faraday it became a steadying and dig- 

 nifying inward force. In one great particular they agreed. 

 Each of them could have turned his science to immense 

 commercial profit, but neither of them did so. The noble 

 excitement of research, and the delight of discovery, con- 

 stituted their reward. I commend them to the reverence 

 which great gifts greatly exercised ought to inspire. They 

 were both ours, and through the coming centuries England 

 will be able to point with just pride to the possession of 

 such men. 



