972 
which he applies to his own discoveries. But we 
may truly say with one of his biographers, that to 
him ‘the Voltaic apparatus was the golden branch 
by which he subdued the spirits that had opposed the 
advance of previous philosophers; but what would 
its possession have availed him had not his genius, 
like the ancient sybil, pointed out its use and appli- 
cation ?” 
(779.) The last, and not least, extraordinary characteris- 
ewig tic of Davy to which I shall now advert, was the 
cheng highly practical turn of a mind which seemed formed 
in a speculative mould. Four at least of his chief 
researches were of this kind—his experiments on 
breathing the gases; his lectures on agricultural 
chemistry; his invention of the safety-lamp; and 
his protectors for ships. No man, whose path so 
clearly lay in original discovery, ever left so many 
valuable legacies to art and to his country. 
(780.) The name of Davy gave to England a distinguished 
Davy’s as- pre-eminence in science during the first 25 years of 
aan a thecentury. But two others, less noticed at the time, 
Wollaston. Were also among her worthiest sons. These were 
Young and Wollaston. They were all three nearly 
contemporaries ; all lived on good terms with one an- 
other, and united in promoting natural knowledge in 
their several spheres. Young was Davy’s early, 
though less successful colleague at the Royal Institu- 
tion; and Wollaston was joint-secretary with him 
to the Royal Society. All three were originally 
educated for the medical profession, and they all 
abandoned it for the pursuit of science. Not the 
least singular coincidence was in the periods of 
their deaths, which all occurred within the space of 
six months. 
(781.) Our notice of Young, the first optical philosopher 
ny ay of his age, belongs to another chapter. Wot.asTon, 
laston—his hough an original observer in nearly every branch 
contribu. of exact science, considered himself as a chemist; 
eas “ and his observations on Electricity were amongst his 
comY: first and best contributions to science. After the 
impulse given to discovery by the invention of the 
Pile, and the proof of the decomposition of water, 
Wollaston undertook to compare critically the effects 
of galvanic and frictional electricity—a task of some 
nicety, and of very great importance at a time 
when it could hardly be considered as certain that 
these agents were not specifically different. By 
methods peculiarly his own, he produced decomposi- 
tion, accompanied with separation of the elements at 
the respective poles by means of common electricity, 
He at the same time gave his powerful support to 
the purely chemical theory of the Pile. 
(782.) His most important inventions were rather in- 
“4 the struments which, in the hands of others, were to 
other scl- 
produce important discoveries, than discoveries in 
themselves. One was the invention of the Reflect- 
ing Goniometer for measuring the angles of crys- 
tals, now so essential to mineralogy; another, the 
ences, 
MATHEMATICAL AND PHYSICAL SCIENCE. 
[Diss. VI. 
art of rendering platinum malleable, which has con- 
ferred inexpressible benefits on chemistry, and on the 
arts connected with it. The principle of the reflec- 
tion of a ray of light for measuring angular spaces, 
though it existed already in the single instance of the 
sextant, has been, since it was applied to the gonio- 
meter, adapted to a multitude of most ingenious and 
valuable contrivances. 
Wollaston was an excellent optician, and of some 
of his observations I have already spoken (476), 
538). 
The strong points of his character were precision _ (784.) 
and rare acuteness in observation, patience and cau- 0. con 
tion in deduction, and habitual devotion of his time trastea 
and energies to scientific pursuits. His foibles were with that 
an excess of caution, and a certain microscopic turn of Davy. 
of mind which, though it sometimes rewarded him 
with valuable discoveries, consumed his time in oc- 
cupations of mechanical ingenuity, and prevented 
him from grappling with almost any of the great 
theories of his day. An exception, yet one which 
illustrates his character, may be found in the fact 
that he had all but anticipated Dalton in his disco- 
very of the multiple combinations of salts, whilst, with 
his characteristic sense of justice, he disclaimed any 
participation in the merit (624), While Davy was de- 
lighting crowded audiences with his eloquence, his 
discoveries, and their wonderful results, Wollaston 
was pursuing his solitary experiments on a scale so 
small that scarcely three persons could witness them 
at once. While Davy was firing his potassium with 
ice, and making mimic volcanos heave by the oxida- 
tion of his new metals, Wollaston was extract- 
ing, by minute analyses, from the refractory and 
unoxidable ores of platinum, substances previously 
undetected, which, neither by their quantity nor 
their characters, could ever interest any but a man 
of science. While Davy was charging his prodi- 
gious battery of 2000 pairs,—the largest which 
has ever been constructed (a homage to his ge- 
nius, provided by his numerous admirers),—Wol- 
laston was proving, after his fashion, how similar 
effects could be produced by the very same agency 
on a small scale ; and with no greater apparatus than 
a shred of zine, a few drops of acid, and an old thimble, 
he would gratify his friends by exhibiting the mimic 
glow of an almost microscopic wire of platinum. 
Davy seemed born to believe; Wollaston to doubt. 
Davy was a poet; Wollaston, a mathematician, or, 
at least, capable of becoming a great one. Davy 
announced his discoveries in fiery haste, and pre- 
sented all their consequences and corollaries as a free 
gift to mankind; Wollaston (estimating more truly 
the rarity of the inventive faculty) hoarded every ob- 
servation, turned it over and over, polished it, ren- 
dered it exact beyond the reach of criticism, and 
then deliberately laid it before the world. He had 
the coldness and the accuracy of Cavendish, but he 
wanted the spur of his genius, and the wide grasp 
(783,) 
i i 
