1812. Mi. 34.] PEOFESSOE DAVY. 369 



On the 10 th the exposure to the light had been con- 

 tinued two days without result. 



In the middle of August he experimented on the 

 action of potassium on silicated fluoric gas. 



From September 2 to December 20 there are no 

 entries in the Laboratory Book. That day the first 

 after his return from Ireland there are experiments on 

 the electrolization of water. 



Early in the following year Sir Joseph Banks wrote 

 to Sir George Staunton (in China) : 



We are going on here as usual, but I think the taste for 

 science is on the increase. The Royal Society has been 

 well supplied with papers, and continues to be so. Davy, 

 our secretary, is said to be on the point of marrying a rich 

 and handsome widow, who has fallen in love with science 

 and marries him in order to obtain a footing in the 

 academic groves ; her name is Apreece, the daughter of 

 Mr. Carr, who made a fortune in India, and the niece of Dr. 

 Carr, of Northampton. If this takes place, it will give to 

 science a kind of new eclat ; we want nothing so much as 

 the countenance of the ladies to increase our popularity. 



Very little laboratory work was done in 1812. It 

 appears from Davy's notes that a few experiments 

 on euchlorine were made in January. In February 

 he was again working on sulphur and phosphorus 

 and chlorine. In March he was experimenting on 

 borum with oxygen, and with chlorine. 



In August an experiment was made to ascertain 

 whether there is, according to the received belief, a 

 neutral part in the voltaic circle. 



B B 



