MICHAEL FAEADAY HIS PERSEVERANCE. 



Dr. Black invited a party of his 

 friends to supper, informing them 

 that he had a curiosity to show 

 them. Dr. Hutton, Mr. Clark, of 

 Eldin, and Sir George Clark, of 

 Pennicuik, were of the number. 

 When the company invited had as- 

 sembled, he took them into a room. 

 He had the allentois of a calf filled 

 with hydrogen gas, and upon set- 

 ting it at liberty, it immediately 

 ascended, and adhered to the ceil- 

 ing. The phenomenon was easily 

 accounted for : it was taken for 

 granted that a small black thread 

 had been attached to the allentois, 

 that this thread passed through the 

 ceiling, and that some one in the 

 apartment above, by pulling the 

 thread, elevated it to the ceiling, 

 and kept it in this position. This 

 explanation was so probable, that 

 it was acceded to by the whole 

 company: though, like many other 

 plausible theories, it turned out 

 wholly unfounded ; for when the al- 

 lentois was brought down no thread 

 whatever was found attached to it. 

 Dr. Black explained the cause of 

 the ascent to his admiring friends ; 

 but such was his carelessness of his 

 own reputation, and of the infor- 

 mation of the public, that he never 

 gave the least account of this curious 

 experiment even to his class ; and 

 more than twelve years elapsed be- 

 fore this obvious property of hydro- 

 gen gas was applied to the elevation 

 of air-balloons, by M. Charles, in 

 Paris." 



SIR HUMPHRY DAVY HIS INDUSTRY. 



The unwonted honours paid to 

 Davy as a lecturer, never relaxed 

 the intensity with which he devoted 

 himself to his laboratory. Writing 

 in 1809 to his mother, he says, 



" At present, except when I re- 

 solve to be idle for health's sake, I 

 devote every moment to labours 

 which I hope will not be wholly 

 ineffectual in benefiting society, 

 and which will not be wholly in- 



glorious for my country hereafter ; 

 and the feeling of this is the reward 

 which will continue to keep mo 

 employed." 



Cuvier, in his eloge of him offici- 

 ally made to the Institute, as a 

 foreign member, referring to this 

 period of his life, to his discoveries 

 and reputation, said, 



" Davy, not yet thirty-two, in the 

 opinion of all who could judge of 

 such labours, held the first rank 

 among the chemists of this or of 

 any other age." 



Sir Humphry Davy, when ex- 

 perimenting on the inhalation of 

 gases, inspired a large quantity of 

 carburetted hydrogen (the fire-damp 

 of the coal-miners). Cottle records 

 that the first inspiration produced 

 numbness and loss of feeling in the 

 chest. After the second, he lost all 

 power of perceiving external things, 

 except a terrible oppression on his 

 chest, and be seemed sinking fast 

 to death. He just had conscious- 

 ness enough to remove the mouth- 

 piece from his unclosed lips, when 

 he became wholly insensible. After 

 breathing the common air for some 

 time, consciousness was restored, 

 and Davy faintly uttered, as a con- 

 solation to his attendant, "I dou't 

 think I shall die." 



MICHAEL FARADAY HIS PERSE- 

 VERANCE. 



Michael Faraday, England's most 

 eminent chemist, was born in 1794, 

 the son of a poor blacksmith. He 

 was early apprenticed to oneEibeau, 

 a bookbinder, in Blandford Street, 

 and worked at the craft until he was 

 twenty-twx) years of age. Whilst 

 an apprentice his master called the 

 attention of one of his customers 

 (Mr. Dance, of Manchester Street) 

 to an electrical machine and other 

 things which the young man had 

 made ; and Mr. Dance, who was ono 

 of the old members of the Koyal 

 Institution, took him to hear the 

 four last lectures which Sir Hum- 



