138 COUNT RUMFORD. 



spirits, starch, sugar, butter, and -cheese ; to the pro- 

 cesses of dyeing, calico-printing, bleaching, painting, 

 and varnishing; to the smelting of ores; the formation 

 of alloys; to mortars, cements, bricks, pottery, glass, 

 and enamels. Above all, "the phenomena of light and 

 heat those great powers which give life and energy to 

 the universe powers which, by the wonderful process 

 of combustion, are placed under the command of human 

 beings will engage a profound interest." 



In reference to the alleged size of the bed of Og, the 

 king of Basan, Bishop Watson proposed to Tom Paine 

 the problem to determine the bulk to which a human 

 body may be augmented before it will perish by its own 

 weight. As regards the projected Institution, Eumford 

 surely had passed this limit, and by the ponderosity of 

 his scheme had ensured either the necessity of change 

 or the certainty of death. In such an establishment 

 Davy was sure to be an iconoclast. He cared little for 

 models not even for the apparatus with which his own 

 best discoveries were made, but incontinently broke it 

 up whenever he found it could be made subservient to 

 further ends. 



The " Journal of the Eoyal Institution " was estab- 

 lished at this time, and published under Eumford's direc- 

 tion. No private advertisements were to appear in it, 

 but it was to be sold for threepence when its contents 

 amounted to eight pages, and for sixpence when they 

 amounted to sixteen. The experiments and experimental 

 lectures of Davy were then attracting attention. Eu- 

 mours of the young chemist reached Eumford through 

 Mr. Underwood and Mr. James Thompson. At Eum- 

 ford's request Davy came to London. His life at the 

 moment was purely a land of promise, but Eumford had 

 the sagacity to see the promise, and the wisdom to act 

 upon his insight. Nor was his judgment rapidly formed; 



