1844-54. LIFE OF CAVENDISH. 341 



for the time Cavendish, and think as he thought, and do as he 

 did." It was no light task he had undertaken, and at its close 

 his feeling was, " Had I foreseen the labour and time it was 

 destined to occupy, I should have declined it. A burden is now 

 off my shoulders, which has lain on them for some two years. 

 I never wrote anything with less freedom and unction than this 

 book, for reasons which the preface will explain. Much of it 

 has been dictated even in my laboratory, in the midst of confu- 

 sion, and the style is horribly rough and rugged in many places. 

 The book will be a very dry one, in spite of all the water in it. 

 I look upon the whole with a remorseful conviction, that I can- 

 not answer to God for the expenditure of so great an amount of 

 time and thought on so small a matter. To me, however, the 

 past is always bleak and dark." 



Spontaneous help was unexpectedly received from Mr. Charles 

 Tomlinson, London, who furnished many of those graphic details 

 that make this remarkable man stand out vividly from his fel- 

 lows. The friendship thus originated with Mr. Tomlinson proved 

 deep and lasting. The long-debated question of priority as to 

 the discoveiy of the composition of water, seems by this volume 

 to have been decided by public consent in favour of Cavendish. 

 Any lingering doubt was met by Dr. Wilson in a communication 

 to the Royal Society in 1859, in which he says, "From De 

 Luc's ' Idees,' all trace of charge against the fair dealing of 

 Cavendish has vanished. Lavoisier is found making full, if 

 somewhat tardy, amends for any wrong he did the English 

 philosopher ; and as De Luc and Lavoisier testify that Caven- 

 dish had reached his famous discovery in 1782, the most un- 

 charitable must cease suspecting that he borrowed or stole it 

 from Watt, who had it not to offer any one till 1783." 1 



The book as a whole has met with a hearty welcome ; it has 

 been spoken of thus : " Admirable as a biography full of life, 

 of picturesque touches, and of realization of the man and of his 

 times ; and, moreover, thoroughly scientific containing, among 

 other discussions, by far the best account of the great water 

 controversy from the Cavendish point of view." 2 It received 



1 Published in the 'Athenaeum' of April 30, 1859. 

 2 ' Horse Subsecivae.' Second Series, p. 107. 



