DAVY. 109 



him in the way of Mr. Davies Giddy, a cultivator of 

 natural as well as mathematical science, and he, finding 

 that Davy had been devoting himself to chemistry, 

 gave him the use of an excellent library, and intro- 

 duced him to Dr. Beddoes, who was then engaged in 

 forming an establishment called by him the Pneumatic 

 Institution, for the medical use of gases, as well as for 

 further investigating their properties. At the head of 

 this he placed his new friend, who was thus at once 

 enabled to pursue his scientific vocation as a profession, 

 and did not long delay giving to the world a proof 

 of his ingenuity, by the publication of a theory of 

 ' Light and Heat,' fanciful no doubt, and ill-digested, 

 containing much groundless and imaginary, and even 

 absurd speculation, but disclosing great information 

 and no inconsiderable cleverness. It was published in 

 a periodical work edited by Dr. Beddoes, called * Con- 

 tributions to Medical and Physical Science ;' and to the 

 same work he soon after gave a paper upon the ' Nitrous 

 Oxide,' on the respiration of which he had made some 

 very curious experiments. The singular circumstances 

 which he thus ascertained, gave him considerable re- 

 putation as an experimentalist, and he was soon after 

 (1802) chosen first Assistant Lecturer in Chemistry, by 

 the Royal Institution of London, and the year follow- 

 ing, sole Chemical Professor. Nor must the boldness 

 which he had shown in conducting his experiments be 

 passed over. He had exposed himself to serious hazard 

 in breathing some most deleterious gases, and both in 

 his trials of gaseous mixtures, and in his galvanic pro- 

 cesses, he had made many narrow escapes from the 

 danger of violent explosions. 



It is a singular fact that, although his attention had 

 never been confined to his favourite science, for he 

 had studied literature, and especially poetry to the ex- 

 tent of writing tolerable verses, yet he was of^so un- 

 couth an exterior and manners, notwithstanding an 

 exceedingly handsome and expressive countenance, 



