126 Literary and PJiilosophical Society, 



the same eloquence of speech, but with more self-con- 

 sciousness and assertion in society. An accident in boyhood, 

 the fall of a beam against his right side, subjected him 

 to great pain, and stopped his growth, while it was suc- 

 ceeded by attacks of neuralgia which occurred periodically 

 during his whole life. He never yielded, nevertheless, to 

 despair, and preserved at all times his love of superiority 

 which distinguished him in conversation ; although we 

 cannot hear that it was ever observed to an extent un- 

 pleasant to his friends. On the contrary, his house was 

 continually sought by scientific men, and also by other 

 eminent persons visiting Manchester ; and he so far outshone 

 Dalton to all appearances that it was said by some, ' Your 

 great man here is Henry, and you do not know it.' How- 

 ever, it was well known, as this expression shows, that 

 Dalton was the true hero of the place, but the fame of the 

 day and of the dinner-party belonged to Henry entirely, 

 with a fair but comparatively simple share reserved for 

 succeeding generations. Dalton was not visited much, 

 because his house was incapable of hospitality, and he 

 himself lived too much in himself to be capable of entertain- 

 ing others. Probably some men of Manchester during the 

 most of Henry's life held him as the greater of the two ; but 

 comparisons are not always pleasant, and we end by saying 

 that Henry was an accomplished and original man, one 

 who advanced science, and took a prominent place amongst 

 the chemists of the age, and one whose name must stand 

 in the history of chemistry as for a time in the front place 

 in his own department. 



We cannot take leave of these two men, the first 

 and second Henrys of Manchester, without remembering 

 how much they contributed to dignify the chemical arts 



