1836.] On the Condensation of the Gases, %c. 135 



out the remarkable difference between tbat result and those 

 which are the subject of this and the other papers referred to. 

 Mr. Perkins informed me that the air upon compression dis- 

 appeared, and in its place was a small quantity of a fluid, which 

 remained so when the pressure was removed, had little or no 

 taste, and did not act on the skin. As far as I could by in- 

 quiry make out its nature, it resembled water ; but if upon 

 repetition it be found really to be the product of compressed 

 common air, then its fixed nature shows it to be a result of a 

 very different kind to those mentioned above, and necessarily 

 attended by far more important consequences. 



On the History of the Condensation of the Gases> in reply to 

 Dr. Davy, introduced by some Remarks on that of Electro- 

 magnetic Rotation *. 



MY DEAR SIR, Royal Institution, May 10, 1836. 



I HAVE just concluded looking over Dr. Davy's Life of his 

 brother Sir Humphry Davy. In it, between pages 160 and 

 164 of the second volume, the author links together some 

 account, with observations, of the discovery of electro-magnetic 

 rotation, and that of the condensation of the gases, concluding 

 at page 164 with these words : " I am surprised that Mr. 

 Faraday has not come forward to do him [Sir Humphry Davy] 

 justice. As I view the matter, it appears hardly less necessary 

 to his own honest fame than his acknowledgement to Dr. Wol- 

 laston, on the subject of the first idea of the rotatory magnetic 

 motion." 



I regret that Dr. Davy by saying this has made that neces- 

 sary which I did not before think so ; but I feel that I cannot 

 after his observation indulge my earnest desire to be silent on 

 the matter without incurring the risk of being charged with 

 something opposed to an honest character. This I dare not 

 risk ; but in answering for myself, I trust it will be understood 

 that I have been driven unwillingly into utterance. 



[The next three pages of this paper which refer to the 

 electro-magnetic rotation have appeared in vol. ii. at p. 229, 

 &c. of ' Experimental Researches in Electricity,' 8vo edition. 



* Philosophical Magazine, 1836, vol. viii. p. 521. 



