GALVANISM. 349 



the prelude to a brilliant series of discoveries, the commencement of which 

 burst upon the scientific world in his Bakerian Lecture for the year 1800. As 

 soon as the spendid results detailed in that paper became known in Franco, 

 the members of the Institute, rising superior to the feelings of naiional ani- 

 mosity which at that time unhappily prevailed, unanimously conferred upon its 

 distinguished author the prize which had been established by Napoleon for the 

 best experiments on Voltaic electricity.* 



The genius, address, and perseverance of him whose vocation is to investi- 

 gate the laws of nature, are not always confined to the grateful labor of devel- 

 oping truths. The extirpation of error is a task which, while it demands the 

 exercise of equally exalted powers, is never rewarded by that eclat which sur- 

 rounds the discovery of natural harmonies before unobserved and unsuspected. 

 In the commencement of the series of researches now referred to, Davy found 

 it necessary to clear from his path certain difficulties, juid, as he rightly con- 

 ceived, errors, by which his progress was obstructed. 



When the decomposing powers of -the pile were first exhibited, the excite- 

 ment attending a discovery so unlocked for prevented the details of the experi- 

 ments from receiving all the attention to which they were entitled. When the 

 circumstances attending the decomposition of water by the Voltaic wires were 

 submitted to closer examination, it was found that indications of the presence 

 of an acid always existed at the pole where oxygen was evolved, and those of 

 an alkali at the other pole. In cases where the water submitted to decomposi- 

 tion might be supposed to hold saline matter in solution, such effects would 

 create no surprise; but they were unequivocally manifested when the water 

 used was distilled, and when there was every reason to think it chemically 

 pure. Mr. Cruickshank explained this, by supposing the acid to be nitrous 

 acid, proceeding from the combination of the azote of the common air held in 

 solution by the water with the oxygen evolved at the positive wire ; and the 

 alkali to be ammonia, proceeding from the combination of the same principle 

 with the hydrogen evolved at the negative wire. Desormes maintained that 

 the acid was muriatic ; and Brugnatelli that it was an acid sui generis, produ- 

 ced by the combination of positive electricity with one of the constituents of 

 water, and called it electric acid. Some maintained that the constituents of the 

 acid and alkali came over from the liquid used in the Voltaic apparatus in some 

 undiscovered manner along the wires, and was thus deposited in the water ; 

 and others held that it was generated out of the elements of the water by Vol- 

 taic action. An article was published in the " Philosophical Magazine," f by 

 f 



/ * It is stated in the Memoirs of Davy by Dr. Paris (p. 168), that the prize given to Davy was the 

 ^ annual medal, worth 3,000 francs, which was designed as a reward for the best experiments in elec- 

 / tricky which should be made in each year. The same statement is made in a note by the editor in 

 ( the fifth volume of Davy's Works (p. 56), edited by his brother, Dr. John Davy : " The minor prize 

 ( af 3.000 francs, founded by Napoleon when first consul, for the most important result in electrical 

 ( research during each year, was awarded by the Institute to the author for this paper: the principal 

 < prize of 60,000 francs, of which the preceding was only the interest, in the opinion of the best 



judges was rather due to him, as it was proposed to be given ' a celui, qui parses experiences et 

 } ses decouvertes, fera i faire a 1'electricile et au galvanisme un pas comparable a cela qu'ont fait 



faire a ces sciences Franklin et Volta.' Thus the writer in the Quarterly Review already referred 

 ' .'j remarks. It was only questioned by those who were capable of appreciating its importance, 

 \vl.euier thej acted with strict impartiality in assigning to him the annual interest only, when he 

 appeared to have a fair claim to the principal.' '' 



6a the other hand, the French writers on electricity claim the merit of having given Davy the 



:. ete promis par Napol&on a 1'auteur des plus grandes decouvertes en felectricite, comparables a celle 

 ( de Volta et de Galvani." Whether Davy received the bigherorthe lower prize (we believe it 



was the lo\ver), ii is evident that the French scientific authorities now think he was entitled to the , 



former. 



t Vol. xxi., p. 279. 



