152 LIFE OF BENJAMIN SILLIMAN. 



merit, and fame of his patron. Alas for human weakness ! 

 When, in July 1851, 1 stood by the grave of Davy in the 

 public cemetery of Geneva, I forgot his follies, and remem- 

 bered only his virtues and his brilliant success and service 

 to mankind. He was cut off at fifty-one and a half years 

 of age, a little past the meridian of life. " What shadows 

 we are and what shadows we pursue ! " 



Prof. William Allen belonged to the Society 



of Friends. I first met him at dinner at Mr. William 

 Vaughan's, and was interested by his intelligence and agree- 

 able manners, the manners of a gentleman, joined to 

 those of a Quaker, simple, but without stiffness or any un- 

 necessary deviation from customary forms of speech. I was 

 indeed happy in hearing a lecture from him in the Royal 

 Institution, which I felt to be some compensation for miss- 

 ing Prof. Davy, who would not lecture until after I should 

 have left London. The lecture-room of the Royal Institu- 

 tion accommodates an audience of one thousand persons. 

 The room is sky-lighted, and a movable screen with the aid 

 of a pully enables the lecturer to cut off the daylight and 

 thus to darken the room in the daytime. In this way Davy 

 was able to exhibit the wonderful illuminating power of the 

 gigantic battery of the Royal Institution, of two thousand 

 pairs of plates, and Faraday has successfully followed his 

 steps with results still more astonishing. At Mr. Allen's 

 lecture, the audience was of all ages and of both sexes ; 

 and about half were young ladies with some matrons. 

 Thus one of the great objects of the Institution is an- 

 swered by affording rational entertainment and instruction 

 for the vacant aristocracy of London, as well as for those 

 who are in earnest in seeking mental improvement. Prof. 

 Allen gave a very interesting and instructive lecture on the 

 general properties of matter; his style was lucid, his illus- 

 trations were appropriate and satisfactory, as were his con- 

 clusions. It was my privilege again to hear a lecture in 

 the Royal Institution, but it was after an interval of forty- 

 six years. 



