——e eee 
Cuar. VII., § 3.] 
est international hostilities, by the scientific prize of 
3000 francs, founded by the Emperor Napoleon! 
a ) The genius displayed in these, Davy’s most cele- 
guished brated researches, is evident on a careful perusal of 
testimonies his papers; but still more from a consideration of the 
ie, state of science of the time, and of the willing tribute 
character, t® his merits paid by the ablest of his contempo- 
raries. Few persons of the present day will venture 
to controvert the assertion of his acute contem- 
porary, Dr Thomas Young (than whom no man was 
ever a less indiscriminate eulogist), that Davy’s 
researches were “more splendidly successful than 
any which have ever before illustrated the physical 
sciences, in any of their departments ;’ and that the 
contents of the Bakerian Lectures, in particular, “ are 
as much superior to those of Newton’s Optics, as the 
Principia are superior to these or any other human 
work.”? A not less impartial tribute to his superla- 
tive genius has been yielded by M. Dumas, who, if I 
mistake not, has described Davy as being the ablest 
and most successful chemist who ever lived. A si- 
milar homage is paid to him by the sagacious Cuvier. 
(767.) It is not within our scope to consider minutely 
Chemical Davy’s purely chemical discoveries and experiments, 
saga though they were numerous and important, indepen- 
rine and dently of those made with the aid of electricity. His 
iodine. —_ proofs of the elementary nature of chlorine and iodine 
were amongst the most considerable in their results. 
But as a mere analyst, Davy had neither the leisure 
nor the taste for continuous plodding labour, and 
he therefore naturally made mistakes in chemical 
details. His Elements of Chemical Philosophy re- 
mained, in consequence, a fragment of an exten- 
sive work. His contemporary, Berzelius, following 
‘his steps in electro-chemical discovery, attained far 
greater address, and became an author of high and 
merited reputation, whilst his school surpassed all 
othersin Europe in producing accomplished analysts.* 
(768.) The years immediately following the publication of 
Davy’s x- his Bakerian Lectures were passed by Davy in the 
Gilarity, u envied possession of the highest fame, and in the 
andits tranquil furtherance of his first and greatest disco- 
results.  yeries. His lectures at the Royal Institution con- 
tinued to be one of the most fashionable resorts in 
London, and he was freely admitted in return into 
the most aristocratic society ; he had but to express a 
wish, and a voltaic battery of no less than 2000 pairs, 
containing 128,000 square inches of surface, was con- 
structed for his use, by means of a liberal subscrip- 
tion. His health, when seriously compromised by 
the severity of his labours, was a matter of public 
concern, and its variations were announced by frequent 
bulletins. The copyright of his lectures on agricul- 
ture was sold for a price unexampled perhaps before 
ELECTRICITY.—DAVY. 
969 
or since for such a work. In 1812 he was knighted 
by the Prince Regent, and soon after he married a 
lady of fortune and accomplishments. His duties at 
the Royal Institution became thenceforth honorary. 
He had in a space of ten years attained the pinnacle of 
scientific reputation, and he was for the time truly 
happy :—unenvious of others—deeply attached to 
his relatives—generous of his resources—unwearied 
in his philosophic labours. A certain change (it 
must with regret be owned) came over his state of 
mind, tarnished his serenity, and gradually though 
imperceptibly weakened his scientific zeal. It was 
to be ascribed solely, we believe, to the severe ordeal 
of exuberant but heartless popularity which he un- 
derwent in London. ‘The flatteries of fashionable 
life acting on a young, ardent, and most susceptible 
mind, mingling first with the graver applause of his 
philosophic compeers, and at length, by their reitera- 
tion and seductions quite overpowering it, by degrees 
attached Davy to the fashionable world, and loosened 
his ties to that laboratory which had once been to him 
the sole and fit scene of his triumphs. Had he been 
blest with a family, his course would probably have 
been evener and happier. Let us not severely criti- 
cise, where we still find so much to admire and to imi- 
tate. But we record the fact, for the consolation of 
those who, beginning the pursuit of science, as Davy 
did, in a humble sphere, and with pure ardour, may 
fancy that they are worthy of pity, if they do not at- 
tain with him the honours of wealth and title, and the 
homage, grateful to talent, of rank, wit, and beauty. 
A research, second perhaps only to his electro-  (769.) 
chemical discoveries, remains to be noticed, as the Third pe- 
chief fruit of the third period of his life, on which we $9 —— 
now enter; the jirst being his early career before 
settling in London; the second, that passed in the 
Royal Institution. 
Researches on Flame—The Safety-Lamp.—The _ (770.) 
subject was, the laws of combustion, and the happy re 
invention of the safety-lamp. Though intimately the okey 
connected with the doctrine of simple heat, it may, lamp. 
most properly, from its chemical character, and 
from its connection with Davy’s history, be considered 
briefly here. The lamentable loss of life oceurring 
in coal mines from explosions of fire-damp or inflam- 
mable air disengaged from the workings, had for 
many years attracted the attention and sympathy of 
the public, and had likewise been carefully considered 
by scientific men. The explosive gas was known to 
be the light carburetted hydrogen. Two plans alone 
seemed to present themselves for diminishing the 
danger :—the one to remove, or chemically to de- 
compose the fire-damp altogether ; the other, to pro- 
vide a miner’s lamp which, by its construction, should 
1 Such was the national feeling at this time in England, that worthy people were found who considered Davy as almost a 
traitor, when he accepted the French prize. 
2 Quarterly Review, No. 15. 
See Southey’s Life. 
3 Jéns Jacob Berzelius, the greatest analytical chemist of his day, was born in East Gothland, in the same year with Davy, 
* and died in 1848, when he had almost completed his 69th year. 
He contributed, in a signal manner, to the establishment of 
Dalton’s principle of definite chemical equivalents; but he made no single discovery of commanding importance. 
VOL. L. 
6G 
