244 Scientific Labors and Charade?- of 



eral individuals of high, and even very exalted rank, were named 

 as candidates ; but the scientific part of the society, justly consijder- 

 ed this honor, the highest that a scientific man can attain in Britain, 

 not as a proper appendage to mere rank and fortune, but as a reward 

 for scientific merit. Amongst the philosophers whose labors have 

 enriched the Transactions of the Royal Society, two were most gener- 

 ally adverted to. Sir Humphry Davy and Doctor Wollaston ; but Dr. 

 WoUaston, whose modesty is only equalled by his profound knowl- 

 edge and extraordinary sagacity, declined being a candidate after his 

 friend had been nominated, and received from the council of the so- 

 ciety, the unanimous compliment of being placed in the chair of the 

 Royal Society, till the election by the body in November. A trifling 

 opposition was made to Sir Humphry Davy's election, by some un- 

 known persons, who proposed Lord Colchester ; but Sir Humphry 

 was placed in the chair by a majority of nearly two hundred to thir- 

 teen. For this honor, (continues the journalist) no man could be 

 more completely qualified. Sir Humphry is perfectly independent ; 

 and in circumstances which enable him to support his office with dig- 

 nity. He is acquainted with foreign languages, and extensively con- 

 nected with foreign men of science. He possesses that general knowl- 

 edge necessary for justly estimating all the different branches of sci- 

 ence, and his reputation, in his own particular pursuits, is such as to 

 place him above all jealousy." 



The last great scientific effort of Davy, was his discovery of a meth- 

 od of protecting the copper sheathing of ships from corrosion by sea 

 water. The history of this undertaking, as well as its mode of ac- 

 complishment, bears a strong analogy to that of the safety lamp. He 

 entered upon it at the request of the Navy Board of Great Britain, 

 and prosecuted it by steps indicated solely by philosophical princi- 

 ples. The method of proceeding in this and all similar cases, seems 

 indeed to be sufficiently simple and obvious — namely, first to ascer- 

 tain the cause of the evil, and then to find out how to control it by 

 studying its nature. But obvious as this method of making great dis- 

 coveries is, yet it has rarely been followed ; but most discoveries, m 

 their first stages at least, have either been stumbled on by accident, 

 or been the fruit of experiments, that were more or less empirical. 

 The principles that guided Sir Humphry, on the present occasion, 

 were suggested by a theory proposed and expounded by him in the 

 Bakerian Lecture for 1806, of which the leading points were as fol- 

 lows : That chemical and electrical attractions are identical, or at 



