36 LIFE AND EXPERIENCES CHAP. 



excisemen, and, getting the head of the unfortunate 

 man " into chancery," inflicted considerable damage 

 upon his person. It was all over in a few minutes, 

 but it was deadly whilst it lasted ; and the astonishment 

 of the peaceable Quaker, when he recovered, at the 

 results of his onslaught was very amusing to all but 

 the exciseman. I did not observe, however, any of 

 the effects of the gas such as are depicted by Gilray, 

 in his well-known and somewhat coarse caricature of 

 the first public exhibition of the effects of the in- 

 halation of the gas, under Davy's superintendence at 

 the Royal Institution, partially reproduced in Thorpe's 

 Life of Davy. 



At the time I entered the laboratory, Williamson 

 was engaged in the researches which have made his 

 name a household word to chemists all the world over. 

 His was a mind of great originality, and his personality 

 was a most attractive one. And, despite his physical 

 disabilities for he lost an eye and the proper use 

 of his left arm in early childhood he was a diligent 

 and accurate worker. Ardently devoted to his 

 science, he infected all who worked under him 

 with the same feeling. And his pupils willingly 

 own that much of the success that they may have 

 met with in after years was due to his teaching and 

 example. I well remember the feelings of interest 

 he aroused as he each day came down to the laboratory 

 brimful of new ideas. First it was his explanation of 

 the theory of etherification, of which he proved the 

 truth by preparing the mixed ethers, thereby ascertain- 

 ing the general constitution of alcohols and ethers, 

 and laying one of the foundation-stones of modern 

 chemistry. Next it was his well-known paper on the 

 constitution of salts, in which he enunciated principles 

 which have since been generally adopted. Then came 



