418 Life of Co^lnl Riimford. 



pletely and even lavishly furnished. The founder had 

 from the first resolved that all the apparatus of science 

 which skill and money could then secure should be pro- 

 vided for lecturers and experimenters. 



A more full recognition of Count Rumford's agency 

 in securing the services of Davy than that which is given 

 in the memoir by his* brother may be found in the 

 earlier biography of him by Dr. John Ayrton Paris.* 

 Dr. Paris quotes a letter addressed to himself (p. 76) 

 by Mr. J. R. Underwood, one of Rumford's most 

 intimate friends and associates in the Institution, to the 

 effect that he and Mr. James Thompson had made 

 known to the Count Davy's talents and eminent quali- 

 ties for a lecturer. Davy had been pursuing some in- 

 vestigations on heat, probably instigated and guided by 

 Rumford's publication of his own experiments. There 

 will be occasion by and by to make a passing refer- 

 ence to an absurd allegation that Davy had anticipated 

 the discoveries of Rumford on his great subject. The 

 attention of the Count having thus been called to this 

 promising youth, Rumford at once wrote to Davy, who 

 came, at his summons, to London, and after several 

 interviews with him accepted, at Rumford's instance, 

 the invitation of the managers to become Director of 

 the laboratory and Assistant Professor of Chemistry, 

 February 16, 1801. Though Davy in a letter re- 

 ports that the Count was most liberal and polite in be- 

 havior towards him, it is a curious fact that the Count 

 at first received a highly unfavorable impression from 

 Davy's personal appearance (pp. 79, 80). This the 

 Count expressed in a letter to Mr. Underwood, nor 

 would he allow Davy to lecture in the theatre of the 



* London, 1831. 



