430 CAVENDISH. 



suit as the greatest privilege, the brightest glory of 

 our nature. 



Henry Cavendish was born at Nice, whither his 

 mother's health had carried her, the 10th of October, 

 1731. He was the son of Lord Charles Cavendish, 

 the last Duke of Devonshire's great uncle, by the 

 daughter of Henry Grey, Duke of Kent. His 

 family, aware of the talents which he early showed, 

 were anxious that he should take the part in public 

 life which men of his rank are wont to do, and were 

 much displeased with his steady refusal to quit the 

 studies which he loved. An uncle, disapproving of 

 the course pursued towards him, made him his heir ; 

 and so ample a fortune came into his possession that he 

 left at his death a million and a quarter of money.* 

 The Mathematics, and the various branches of Natural 

 Philosophy, were the chief subjects of his study, and 

 of all these sciences he was a consummate master. 



The discoveries of Black on carbonic acid and 

 latent heat, appear to have drawn his attention to the 

 cultivation of pneumatic chemistry ; and in 1766 he 

 communicated to the Royal Society his experiments 

 for ascertaining the properties of carbonic acid and 

 hydrogen gas.f He carried his mathematical habits 

 into the laboratory ; and not satisfied with showing 

 the other qualities which make it clear that these two 



* M. Biot's article in the Biog. Univ. makes him the son of the 

 Duke of Devonshire, and states his yearly income at 300,000/. 

 sterling-, and yet gives the property he left at only 1,200,000/. so 

 that he must have spent 300,000/. a year, and also dissipated five 

 millions. Such errors seem incredible. 



f Three papers containing experiments on factitious air. Phil. 

 Trans., 1766, p. 141. 



