310 FRAGMENTS OF SCIENCE. 



vivd voce defenses revealed, as much as the defenses them- 

 selves, that disarmed resentment at the time. 



As regards Davy, another cause of dissension arose in 

 1823. In the spring of that year Faraday analyzed the 

 hydrate of chlorine, a substance once believed to be the 

 element chlorine, but proved by Davy to be a compound of 

 that element and water. The analysis was looked over by 

 Davy, who then and there suggested to Faraday to heat the 

 hydrate in a closed glass tube. This was done, the sub- 

 stance was decomposed, and one of the products of decom- 

 position was proved by Faraday to be chlorine liquefied by 

 its own pressure. On the day of its discovery he communi- 

 cated this result to Dr. Paris. Davy, on being informed 

 of it, instantly liquefied another gas in the same way. 

 Having struck thus into Faraday's inquiry, ought he not to 

 have left the matter in Faraday's hands? I think he 

 ought. But, considering his relation to both Faraday and 

 the hydrate of chlorine, Davy, I submit, may be excused 

 for thinking differently. A father is not always wise 

 enough to see that his son has ceased to be a boy, and 

 estrangement on this account is not rare; nor was Davy 

 wise enough to discern that Faraday had passed the mere 

 assistant stage, and become a discoverer. It is now hard to 

 avoid magnifying this error. But had Faraday died or 

 ceased to work at this time, or had his subsequent life been 

 devoted to money-getting, instead of to research, would 

 anybody now dream of ascribing jealousy to Davy? Assur- 

 edly not. Why should he be jealous? His reputation at 

 this time was almost without a parallel; his glory was with- 

 out 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 oppo- 

 sition to the election of Faraday to the Royal Society is, I 

 am persuaded, 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. 



