1805. &T. 27.] PROFESSOK DAVY. 337 



I have been led into all this speculation, which you may 

 well think wild, in reflecting upon the fate of Gregory ; my 

 feeling has given erring wings to my mind. He was a 

 noble fellow and would have been a great man. 



His letters to me only three or four months ago were full 

 of spirit, and spoke not of any infirmity of body, but of an 

 increasing strength of mind. Why is this in the order of 

 nature, that there is such a difference in the duration and 

 destruction of her works ? If the mere stone decays, it is 

 to produce a soil which is capable of nourishing the moss and 

 the lichen ; when the moss and the lichen die and decompose, 

 they produce a mould which becomes the bed of life to 

 grass and to a more exalted species of vegetables. Vege- 

 tables are the food of animals, the less perfect animals of 

 the more perfect, but in man the faculties and intellect are 

 perfected ; he rises, exists for a little while in disease and 

 misery, and then would seem to disappear without an end 

 and without producing any effect. 



Another mention of Coleridge occurs in February, 

 when Davy wrote to Mr. Poole : 



There has been no news lately from Coleridge ; the last 

 accounts state that he was well in the autumn and in 

 Sicily. On that poetic ground we may hope and trust that 

 his genius will call forth some new creations, and that he 

 may bring back to us some garlands of never-dying verse. 

 I have written to urge him strongly to give a course of 

 lectures on Poetry at the Royal Institution, where his feel- 

 ing would strongly impress and his eloquence greatly 

 delight. 



In January 1805 Davy presented his collection of 

 minerals to the Royal Institution. They were valued 

 at one hundred guineas. 



On February 4, as Director of the Laboratory, he 

 received an addition of ] OOl. to bis salary. 



z 



