THE SCIENTIFIC SPIRIT IN ENGLAND. 



229 



different point of view. England has during the early part 3. 

 of the century, in all but the purely mathematical sciences, science in 



the early 



a greater array of scientific names of the first order than part of the 



century. 



Germany, and nearly as great an array as France. Black, 

 Herschel, Priestley, Cavendish, Davy, Young, Dalton, 

 Faraday, Eowan Hamilton, Brewster, Lyell, Charles Bell, 

 are all identified with one or more novel ideas or definite 

 branches of research. 1 Great Britain had thus no lack 



there is, however, a proportionate 

 amount of pleasure in witnessing 

 the triumphant manner in which 

 the small band of philosophers ex- 

 tricated their institution from seri- 



ous difficulties, unassisted by Royal 

 bounty and labouring alone on ac- 

 count of their love for science " 

 (vol. i. p. 474). 



1 The following are the principal dates referring to the great discoveries 

 made in this country during the half-century ending 1825 : 



1774. Priestley (1733-1804) discovers oxygen and a variety of other 



gases. 



1775. Black (1728-99), Memoirs on latent heat. 



1775. Maskelyne (1732-1811) measures the Attraction of Mount She- 

 hallien. 



1775. Landen (1719-90) expresses the arc of an hyperbola in terms of 

 two elliptic arcs. 



1778. Benjamin Thompson (Count Rumford, 1753-1814) first experi- 

 ments on heat by friction. 



1781, 13th March, Sir William Herschel (1738-1822) discovers Uranus. 



1784. Cavendish (1731-1810) discovers the composition of water. 



1786-97. Caroline Herschel (1750-1848) discovers her eight comets. 



1798. Cavendish determines the density of the earth. 



1799. Davy (1768-1829), essay on heat, light, &c. 



1800. Nicholson and Carlisle decompose water with the voltaic pile. 



1801. Dalton (1766-1844), theory of evaporation. 



1801. Young (1773-1829), first essay on the theory of light and colour. 



1802. Dalton, law of expansion of gaseous fluids. 



1802. Playfair (1748-1819), 'Illustrations of the Huttonian Theory.' 



1802. Wollaston (1766-1829), on Iceland spar, and undulatory theory. 



1802-3. William Herschel, observations on nebulae and double stars. 



1802-3. Young expounds the principle of "Interference." 



1803-4. Dalton proposes the atomic theory. 



1804. Leslie (1766-1832), experiments on heat. 



1804. Wollaston discovers palladium and other kindred metals. 



1806. Davy isolates the alkaline metals. 



1807. Young introduces the word Energy (lect. i. p. 75). 



1809. Ivory (1765-1842), on the attraction of ellipsoids. 



1810. Young (in ' Quarterly Review ') explains the different refractions 



in crystals. 

 1810. Davy discovers chlorine to be a simple body. 



