486 



NATURE 



[August 22, 19 18 



serious thoughts. of again turning to a career in 

 medicine, for which, Indeed, he was originally 

 intended. It was practically the only career then , 

 open to a man of science unless he had the means 

 of a Cavendish, or a Banks. 



Influential persons, moreover, who thought that 

 Sydney Smith's lectures on moral philosophy would 

 somehow better the condition of the poor, by 

 dangling promises of preferment before' him had 

 sought to induce him to devote his eloquence and 

 his talents to the service of the Church. But the 

 little god that so often shapes the destinies of men 

 and women had willed it otherwise. Unmindful 

 of the injunction that a philosopher of another 

 type and of a later age has crystallised in a phrase 

 that has become classical, Davy succumbed to the 

 fascination of a rich and handsome widow, who, 

 as Sir. Joseph Banks wrote to his friend Stanton, 

 "had fallen in love with Science " and had elected 

 to marry one of its votaries "to obtain a footing 

 in the academic groves." 



Although now within a social sphere very dif- 

 ferent from that into which he had been born, and 

 to the attractions of which he was by no means 

 insensible, Davy's heart was still true to the 

 mistress that controlled his strongest inclinations 

 and inspired his finest efforts. Science still 

 claimed and secured his allegiance, but, like his 

 contemporaries, WoUaston and Young, he was 

 not destined to grow old in her service. The con- 

 stant strain of ten years of almost delirious excite- 

 ment, in which he seemed to pass from triumph to 

 triumph, began to tell upon his nervous and 

 impressionable nature. He had already experi- 

 enced more than one serious breakdown. After 

 his great discovery of the alkaline metals he 

 utterly collapsed, and for a time his life hung 

 upon a thread. Accordingly, after his marriage 

 in 181 2 he decided to resign his lectureship, and, 

 although in deference to the wishes of the 

 managers he still remained titular professor and 

 director of the chemical laboratory, after 1813 he 

 took no very active part in the management of 

 the institution. But a beneficent Fortune still 

 seemed to wait upon it. In the very year of his 

 resignation he discovered Faraday — the greatest 

 of all his discoveries — and the continued existence 

 of the Royal Institution was thereby assured. 



The lecture of 1810 may, then, be regarded as 

 a sort of testament in which its author lays down 

 his views concerning the true end and aim of the 

 institution which he had laboured so strenuously 

 and so successfully to establish. Stated in their 

 simplest terms and in his own words, these were : 

 "to apply its funds to useful purposes; to promote 

 the diffusion of science; to encourage discovery; 

 and to exalt the scientific glory of this country." 

 In reviewing its history during the ten short years 

 of its adolescence, Davy could at least claim that 

 it had not been useless to the British public. 



It might, I conceive, be demonstrated (he says) 

 that it has not only assiisted the progress of genuine 

 science, but has likewise diffused a general know- 

 ledge of the advantages and importance of scientific 

 pursuits, and as far- as it has been subservient to 

 NO. 2547, VOL. lOl] 



amusement, that amusement has been at least of a 

 rational kind, of a moral tendency, and connected 

 with no improper, no undignified objects. 



But he is more concerned to dwell upon the 

 promise of its future than upon the performances 

 of its early youth, striking and brilliant though 

 these were, and as his audience knew them to be. 

 The very modesty with which he referred to those 

 achievements must have struck and, indeed, 

 strengthened a sympathetic chord. In a few 

 graphic sentences, with all the charm and ele- 

 gance of diction which astonished and delighted 

 the intellectual world of London, he rapidly 

 sketched the rise of the sciences and traced their 

 \ ennobling influence upon civilisation and the pro- 

 ^ gress of the human mind. 



• The pursuit and cultivation of science and the 

 diffusion of knowledge being then admittedly the 

 I primary and fundamental objects of the Royal 

 ] Institution, he next turned to the details of his 

 I plan for attaining them. He dealt with the original 

 i scheme of the foundation, pointed out its imper- 

 i fections, demonstrated the necessity of modifying 

 j and enlarging its constitution, and, last but not 

 I least in importance, showed how its financial posi- 

 tion could be strengthened in view of the exten- 

 sion of its functions that he contemplated. 

 [ To the .ideals thus developed the institution has 

 ; been consistently faithful. Its history during the 

 i 108 years that have elapsed since the delivery of 

 i this historic discourse is, in effect, an epitome of 

 contemporary science, and especially of British 

 science. Its professors and lecturers have always 

 been leaders who have left their impress upon the 

 science and learning of their time ; its laboratories 

 have continued to contribute to and augment that 

 renown which the genius of Davy first showered 

 i upon it, and its achievements are among the 

 I greatest scientific glories of this country. 



There is one circumstance associated with this 

 lecture which deserves a passing reference. In 

 1810, as now, we were at a crisis in our national 

 history, and those who are at all familiar with 

 the conditions of that time will find a hundred 

 analogies in the present happenings. We were 

 then in the throes of a life-and-death struggle 

 with the greatest military genius of his age, the 

 despot who was practically master of Central 

 Europe, and was bent upon the subjugation 

 I and humiliation of this kingdom. But there is 

 only the slightest possible allusion in the lecture 

 to the critical conditions of the time — so slight, 

 j indeed, that it might well escape the notice of a 

 I reader of to-day — merely a half-veiled, contemptu- 

 ous reference to "all the armies and all the edicts 

 I which have lately been so vainly opposed to our 

 j prosperity." The calm and resolute courage with 

 which the lecturer and his audience faced the 

 ! peril of that time may surely inspire and 

 strengthen us with an equal confidence. Historv 

 i is now repeating itself. Let us hope that it will 

 I continue to repeat itself, and that, taking heart of 

 i grace from the example which has been set us, 

 I we may find our faith abundantly justified. 



T. E. Thorpe. 



