56 ESSAYS BIOGRAPHICAL AND CHEMICAL 



During these years, Davy published many papers, having 

 relation to the preservation of metals by electro-chemical 

 means, with special reference to the preservation of the 

 copper sheathing of ships. In 1826, these, and other 

 similar inquiries, were summed up in the ' Bakerian ' 

 Lecture, on the Relation of Electrical and Chemical 

 Changes. 



His scientific work, however, was nearly at an end ; for 

 in 1826 he had a slight shock of paralysis, and though he 

 lived until 1829, it was in a continual search for health. 

 He travelled much on the Continent, and made partial 

 recoveries ; but he was seized by a final stroke at Geneva 

 in May 1829, where he died, in his fifty-first year. 



Sir Humphry Davy's work is well summed up in a 

 notice published in Silliman's American Journal of 

 Science and Arts: 'To conclude, we look upon Sir 

 Humphry Davy as having afforded a striking example of 

 what the Romans called a man of good fortune ; whose 

 success, even in their view, was not however the result of 

 accident, but of ingenuity and wisdom to devise plans, 

 and of skill and industry to bring them to a successful 

 issue. He was fortunate in his theories, fortunate in his 

 discoveries, and fortunate in living in an age sufficiently 

 enlightened to appreciate his merits/ But let him speak 

 his own epitaph; it is: 'My sole object has been to serve 

 the cause of humanity; and if I have succeeded, I am 

 amply rewarded in the gratifying reflection of having 

 done so.' 



Fortunately for your patience, my task to-day is limited 

 to sketching the lives of those chemists who have gone 

 from among us. And confining myself to the names of 

 those who must pass without cavil as 'great/ that of 

 Graham presents itself. There have been men of con- 

 siderable ability, who have in their day done good and 



