SIE HUMPHREY DAVY. 151 



try in the Eoyal Institution, an appointment, Davy 

 wrote to his mother, " as honorable as any scientific 

 appointment in the kingdom, with an income of at 

 least five hundred pounds a- year." He had evi- 

 dently kept the " look towards future greatness " 

 in his heart. 



Six weeks after his arrival in London, in the 

 spring of 1801, Davy gave his first lecture, upon the 

 history of galvanism, and the different modes of 

 accumulating galvanic influence. "The sensation 

 created by his first course of lectures at the Institu- 

 tion," says the Philosophical Magazine, " and the 

 enthusiastic admiration which they obtained, is at 

 this period hardly to be imagined. Men of the first 

 rank and talent, the literary and the scientific, 

 the practical and the theoretical, blue-stockings 

 and women of fashion, the old and the young, all 

 crowded, eagerly crowded, the lecture-room. His 

 youth, his simplicity, his natural eloquence, his 

 chemical knowledge, his happy illustrations and 

 well conducted experiments, excited universal at- 

 tention and unbounded applause. Compliments, 

 invitations, and presents were showered upon him 

 in abundance from all quarters ; his society was 

 courted by all, and all appeared proud of his ac- 

 quaintance." He usually wrote his lecture the day 

 before he delivered it, on this day dining in his 

 own room, generally on fish. His manner in speak- 

 ing was very animated, but natural. He believed 

 in enthusiasm. He said, " Great powers have never 

 been exerted independent of strong feelings. The 



