DAVY. 47 



the Royal Society in November, 1806, in which he detailed the phe- 

 nomena of electro-chemical decomposition, and laid down its laws ; 

 while in his second lecture, read in the November following, he an- 

 nounced the successful application of these principles, and the dis- 

 covery of the metallic bases of the fixed alkalies, witnessed by the 

 production of two new metals, which he named potassium and 

 sodium.* This splendid discovery was fully confirmed by Guy 

 Lussac and Thenard, who, in the following year, succeeded in de- 

 composing potash by iron filings, in a red-hot gun barrel. From 

 1808 to 1810, Davy gave three more lectures, in which he announced 

 the results of his further chemical investigations. It may be inter- 

 esting to remark that the original batteries of the institution were 

 so worn during the course of his experiments, as to be unserviceable; 

 a liberal voluntary subscription, however, amongst the members, in 

 July 1808, put him in possession of the most powerful voltaic battery 

 ever constructed, consisting of 2000 double plates, with a surface 

 equal to 128,000 square inches. The results produced by this 

 tremendous power did not, however, add to science one new fact of 

 any importance. All Davy's great voltaic discoveries were made 

 before it was in use, and it only served to show the phenomena of 

 galvanism with greater brilliancy. 



Mr. Davy's reputation was now at its height, and he was invited 

 by the Dublin Society to give a course of lectures on electro-chemical 

 science. For these lectures, which were commenced on the 8th, 

 and concluded on the 29th of November, 1810, he received 500 

 guineas. In the following year he was invited to give two more 

 courses, on the Elements of Chemical Philosophy, and on Geology, 

 for which he received 750Z., the Provost and Fellows of Trinity 

 College also conferring on him the degree of LL.D. In 1812, Davy 

 dissolved his connection with the Royal Institution, by giving a 

 farewell lecture on the 9th of April ; on the preceding day he had 

 received the honour of knighthood from the hands of the Prince 

 Regent, and on the llth of the same month was married to Mrs. 

 Apreece, daughter and heiress of Charles Kerr, of Kelso, and the 

 possessor of an ample fortune. During the next two or three years, 

 Sir Humphry communicated several papers to the Royal Society, 

 but they contained little of importance to science. 



Whilst experimenting, in the latter part of 1812, upon azote and 

 chlorine, he was severely wounded in the eye by the explosion of 

 these substances ; and it is a strong proof of his energy, that when 

 his eye was sufficiently recovered, he renewed his experiments upon 

 the same bodies, and was again wounded in the head and hands, 

 but this time slightly, as he had taken the precaution of defending 

 his face by a plate of glass. 



In the autumn of 1813 he obtained the permission of Napoleon to 



* Davy also reduced by voltaic electricity alumina, but aluminium was first 

 obtained in a perfectly separate state by Wbnler in 1827. 



