158 SIR HUMPHREY DAVY. 



the powers of her understanding, and her amiable 

 and delightful tones of feeling." 



Like the wife of Herschel, she was a wealthy 

 widow, so that after his marriage Davy was en- 

 abled to travel, and devote himself wholly to origi- 

 nal investigation. He resigned his professorship 

 at the Eoyal Institution after twelve most useful 

 years. 



His "Elements of Chemical Philosophy" was 

 now published, and dedicated to Lady Davy. After 

 a pleasure trip with his wife to the highlands of 

 Scotland, taking his portable chemical apparatus 

 with him for study, they took a journey to France, 

 Italy, Sicily, and Germany, accompanied by Mr. 

 Michael Faraday, afterward so celebrated, then "his 

 assistant in experiments and writing." 



In Paris, where he spent two months, he discov- 

 ered that iodine is a simple substance, analogous to 

 chlorine. Here he became the intimate friend of 

 many distinguished men. "Humboldt," he said, 

 " was one of the most agreeable men I have ever 

 known ; social, modest, full of intelligence, with 

 facilities of every kind ; almost too fluent in con- 

 versation. His travels display his spirit of enter- 

 prise. His works are monuments of the variety of 

 his knowledge and resources." 



Gay-Lussac he placed " at the head of the living 

 chemists of France." 



At Fontainebleau, on the banks of the Ehone, at 

 Mont Blanc, at Vaucluse, Sir Humphrey's artistic 

 nature voiced itself in song. He had the poet's 



