THE GREAT LONDON CHEMISTS 45 



apparatus, in Mr. Tonkins's house. About four months 

 after beginning his chemical studies he was in corre- 

 spondence with Dr. Beddoes, a medical man residing at 

 Clifton, on the subject of heat and light. This corre- 

 spondence was fraught with momentous consequences for 

 Davy; for it led to his being offered the position of 

 superintendent of the 'Pneumatic Institution,' founded 

 by the doctor, with the help of Josiah Wedgwood and Mr. 

 Gregory Watt, youngest son of James Watt, with the 

 object of experimenting with the gases, at that time 

 recently discovered, in order to ascertain whether they 

 would prove suitable as remedial agents. 



In reviewing the career of a man, it is interesting to 

 note the motives which underlie his actions. The latter, 

 indeed, may not always be worthy of the sentiments which 

 give them birth, but it is just to give credit for pure 

 intentions, and to form an estimate of character by taking 

 both motive and action into consideration. In one of the 

 earliest of Davy's notebooks, intended for no eye but his 

 own, there is this entry : ' I have neither riches, nor 

 power, nor birth to recommend me ; yet, if I live, I trust 

 I shall not be of less service to mankind and to my 

 friends than if I had been born with these advantages.' 

 And again, in 1821, nearly twenty-five years later, his 

 diary contains the aspiration, ' May every year make me 

 better more useful, less selfish, and more devoted to the 

 cause of humanity and science.' These are noble words, 

 and they lead one to form a high estimate of the charac- 

 ter of Humphry Davy. 



In January 1799 he went to the Pneumatic Institute, 

 and worked under the patronage of Dr. Beddoes. By the 

 following year he had finished his classical research on 

 nitrous oxide, and had discovered and investigated its 

 remarkable anaesthetic properties. He also discovered 

 the composition of nitric acid, nitric oxide, nitric peroxide, 



