EARLY LIFE. 73 



nothing that could be called apparatus at all. I forget 

 whether he showed us the experiment of a bladder 

 filled with inflammable air, and rising to the ceiling, 

 which he had often shown to his friends in private, 

 and which was the origin of the air-balloon ; but I 

 remember his pouring fixed air from a vessel in which 

 sulphuric acid had been poured upon chalk, and show- 

 ing us how this air poured on a candle extinguished 

 the light. He never failed to remark on the great 

 use of simple experiments within every one's reach ; 

 and liked to dwell on the manner in which discoveries 

 are made, and the practical effect resulting from them 

 in changing the condition of men and things. 



The scheme of the lectures may thus be apprehended 

 the execution imperfectly ; for the diction was 

 evidently, in many instances, extemporaneous, the 

 notes before the teacher furnishing him with little 

 more than the substance, especially of those portions 

 which were connected with experiments. But still 

 less can the reader rise from the perusal to any con- 

 ception of the manner. Nothing could be more suited 

 to the occasion: it was perfect philosophical calmness; 

 there was no effort, but it was an easy and a graceful 

 conversation. The voice was low, but perfectly dis- 

 tinct and audible through the whole of a large hall 

 crowded in every part with mutely attentive listeners; 

 it was never at all forced, any more than were the 

 motions of the hands, but it was anything rather than 

 monotonous. Perfect elegance as well as repose was 

 the phrase by which every hearer and spectator 



