DAVY 171 



coal-owners of the north of England presented him with 

 a service of plate worth 3000. How many lives this 

 invention has saved from a horrid death it is impossible 

 to estimate. 



Davy proved the elementary nature of chlorine, and 

 that hydrochloric acid is a compound of chlorine and 

 hydrogen. His experiments were always most convinc- 

 ing as well as brilliant. While in Paris, he proved that 

 iodine was an element, using the simplest of appliances. 



Unremitting devotion to chemistry and society had 

 undermined his constitution to such an extent that in 

 1826 he was attacked by paralysis, and was forced to 

 relinquish most of his work. He visited the Continent 

 for the benefit of his health ; but another attack of para- 

 lysis seized him while visiting Rome. He, however, 

 rallied sufficiently to continue the homeward journey. At 

 Geneva he was attacked again, and died on .Royal Oak 

 Day (29th May) 1829. Sir Humphry Davy was buried 

 in the cemetery outside the city of Geneva, Switzerland. 



He was an untiring and enthusiastic worker, a brilliant 

 experimentalist, an eloquent lecturer, a genius : and " he 

 was full of eager desire to know the secrets of the world 

 in which he lived"; in fact, as Cuvier said of him, "he 

 occupied the first rank among the chemists of this or of 

 any other age." 



His work on the elemental nature of chlorine, iodine, 

 etc., his synthesis of hydriodic acid, and his work on 



