1836.] On the Condensation of the Gases, $c. 139 



I certainly took up the subject of chlorine with the view of 

 pursuing it as I could find spare time, and at the moments 

 which remained to me after attending to the directions of my 

 superiors. It however passed in the manner described into 

 the hands of Sir Humphry Davy, and a comparison of the 

 dates will readily show that I at least had no time of my own 

 to pursue it. My original paper was published on the 1st 

 of April, 1823, that being the first Number of the * Quarterly 

 Journal ' which could appear after the experiments had been 

 made : but in the short time between the first experiment and 

 the publication, much that I have referred to had occurred'; for 

 not only had I communicated my results to Sir Humphry 

 Davy, and received from him the hint, but my paper on fluid 

 chlorine had been read (13th of March), and his note also, of 

 the same date, attached to it 5 and the Editor of the ' Quarterly 

 Journal,' Mr. Brande, had time, prior to the printing of my 

 original paper, to attach a note to it stating the condensation of 

 chlorine and muriatic acid, and expressing an expectation that 

 several other gases would be liquefied by the same means *. 

 On the 10th of April my paper on the condensation of several 

 gases into liquids was read, on the 17th of April Sir Humphry 

 Davy's on the application of condensed gases as mechanical 

 agents, and on the 1st of May his Appendix to it on the 

 changes of volume produced by heat. 



I have never remarked upon or denied Sir Humphry Davy's 

 right to his share of the condensation of chlorine or the other 

 gases ; on the contrary, I think that I long ago did him full 

 " justice" in the papers themselves. How could it be other- 

 wise? He saw and revised the manuscripts; through his hands 

 they went to the Royal Society, of which he was President 

 at the time ; and he saw and revised the printer's proofs. 

 Although he did not tell me of his expectations when he sug- 

 gested the heating the crystals in a closed tube, yet I have no 

 doubt that he had themf; and though, perhaps, I regretted 



* Quarterly Journal, xv. p. 74 or page 84, 



t I perceive in a letter to Professor Edmund Davy, published by Dr. Davy 

 in the * Life/ vol. ii. p. 166, of the date of September \, 1823, that Sir Humphry 

 Davy said, " The experiments on the condensation of the gases were made 

 under my direction, and I had anticipated, theoretically, all the results." It 

 is evident that he considered the subject his own j but I am glad that here, as 



