William Sturgeon. 277 



accustomed to have our literary men spoilt, as they spoil 

 them in Denmark and some other civilised countries. All 

 ranks contended to do the philosopher honour on this 

 occasion. The king sent him the Grand Cross of the Order 

 of Dannebrog. The university sent new insignia of his 

 Doctor's degree, including a gold ring, whereon a cameo 

 bears the head of Minerva ; and the citizens presented 

 him with a beautiful villa, situated at Fredericksburg, in 

 the outskirts of Copenhagen. King and people agree in 

 a strange estimate of the value and status of the scientific 

 man, according to our insular notions. We do not see 

 how they could have improved on this sort of testimonial 

 if he had gained a battle. Dr. CErsted is upwards of 

 eighty years of age." ' 



Dr. Joule has viewed the matter from another point ; 

 his account of Sturgeon's discovery is of importance, estab- 

 lishing the scientific position of the too much forgotten dis- 

 coverer. 



After describing Mr. Sturgeon's improvements on the 

 voltaic revolving machine, the result of discoveries by 

 QErsted, Faraday, Ampere, and Barlow, Dr. Joule says : 

 (see ' On the Life and Writings of the late Mr. William 

 Sturgeon/ by Dr. James Prescott Joule, F.R.S., &c., Mem. 

 of the Lit. & Phil. Soc., vol. xiv., 2nd series, p. 59.) 



'In 1824 Mr. Sturgeon began to give the fruits of his 

 investigations to the public in the leading scientific period- 

 ical of the day. In that year, no fewer than four papers 

 of great merit appeared from his pen, on the subjects of 

 electro and thermo-electricity, in the pages of the " London 

 Philosophical Magazine." 



'In 1825 he published in the "Transactions of the 

 Society of Arts " the description of a complete set of novel 



