THE GREAT LONDON CHEMISTS 31 



investigation of a few problems of first-rate importance. 

 His work is characterised by the utmost accuracy and 

 elegance ; and he was cautious to an extreme in announc- 

 ing his conclusions. Both types of mind have their good 

 side ; but in their case one might have wished for a little 

 more moderation. Had Boyle not been so many-sided, he 

 might have advanced science more by accurate experi- 

 mental work ; and had Cavendish not been so reserved, 

 he would have done more good to his contemporaries, and 

 he would certainly have been a happier man. Neither 

 was married; and it is perhaps legitimate to draw the 

 conclusion that man's nature does not culminate in its 

 best without the influence of a helpmeet. 



Like Boyle's, Henry Cavendish's life was an uneventful 

 one, and may be told in a few words. He was born on the 

 10th October 1731, at Nice, where his mother had gone 

 for her health. She died when he was two years old. In 

 1742, he became a pupil of Dr. Newcome, at Hackney 

 School, where he stayed until 1749 ; in that year, he 

 matriculated at Cambridge, and entered as a student at 

 Peterhouse. In 1753, he left without taking his degree; 

 he probably went to London ; but all details of his life are 

 lacking for the next ten years, though it is probable that 

 he spent the major part of his time in mathematical and 

 physical studies, and in research in the stables belonging 

 to his father's town house, which he had fitted up as a 

 laboratory. It was not until 1766 that he summoned up 

 resolution enough to publish; although his note-books 

 show that in 1764 he had begun to make experiments 

 which would have been well worth recording. From that 

 time forward, until 1809, the year before his death, his 

 papers appeared in constant succession. There was little 

 interruption to this incessant work, unless we consider a 

 series of journeys made through various parts of England 

 and Wales with the object of studying the geology of the 



