172 THE HISTORY OF SCIENCE 



that the following is transcribed from a notebook 

 of Humphry's, bearing the date of the same year as 

 his apprenticeship (1795) : 



1. Theology or Religion ) Taught by Nature. 

 Ethics or Moral Virtues J by Revelation. 



2. Geography. 



3. My Profession 



1. Botany. 2. Pharmacy. 3. Nosology. 4. Anatomy. 

 5. Surgery. 6. Chemistry. 



4. Logic. 



5. Language, etc. 



A series of essays which Davy wrote in pursuing 

 his scheme of self -culture proves how rapidly his mind 

 drew away from the superstitions which character- 

 ized the masses of the people among whom he lived. 

 He had as a boy been haunted by the fear of mon- 

 sters and witches in which the credulous of all classes 

 then believed. His notebook shows that he was now 

 subjecting to examination the religious and political 

 opinions of his time. He composed essays on the 

 immortality and immateriality of the soul, on gov- 

 ernments, on the credulity of mortals, on the de- 

 pendence of the thinking powers on the organiza- 

 tion of the body, on the ultimate end of being, on 

 happiness, and on moral obligation. He studied the 

 writings of Locke, Hartley, Berkeley, Hume, Hel- 

 vetius, Condorcet, and Reid, and knew something of 

 German philosophy. It was not till he was nineteen 

 that Davy entered on the experimental study of 

 chemistry. 



Guided by the Elements of Lavoisier, encouraged 

 by the friendship of Gregory Watt (a son of James 

 Watt) and by another gentleman of university edu- 



