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 LX. Intelligence and Miscellaneous Articles. 



A LETTER FROM JOHN DAVY, M.D., F.R.S., TO THE EDITORS OF 

 THE PHILOSOPHICAL MAGAZINE IN REPLY TO CERTAIN 

 CHARGES MADE BY C. RABBAGE, ESQ., F.R.S, ETC., AGAINST 

 THE LATE SIR HUMPHRY DAVY, WHEN PRESIDENT OF THE 

 ROYAL SOCIETY. 



Gentlemen, — 

 "IV/I R. BABBAGE, in his recently published work, 'Passages from 

 *■*-■• the life of a Philosopher,' has brought two charges against the 

 late Sir Humphry Davy, when President of the Royal Society, both of 

 them injurious to his character, if substantiated: — one, of a breach of 

 promise ; the other, of " transferring between three and four hundred 

 pounds from the funds of the Royal Society into his own pocket"*. 



These charges are contained in the thirteenth Chapter, under the 

 heading of " Recollections of Wollaston, Davy, and Rogers," and 

 are incongruously associated with an account of " The Thauma- 

 trope," and with anecdotes of the poet. Mr. Babbage, in his Pre- 

 face to another workf, expresses the opinion "that the famous 

 maxim de mortuis nihil nisi bonum, appears to savour more of female 

 weakness than of manly reason." In these his " recollections," or 

 rather his assertions, so far as they relate to Sir Humphry Davy, he 

 strictly confines himself to nihil nisi malum. 



As the brother of Sir Humphry Davy, will you allow me to reply 

 to these charges in your pages ; I shall endeavour to be as brief as 

 the subject will permit. 



First, of the breach of promise.- — Mr. Babbage's statement is the 

 following: — "In 1826 one of the Secretaryships of the Royal So- 

 ciety became vacant. Dr. Wollaston, and several other of the lead- 

 ing members of the Society and of the Council wished that I should 

 be appointed. This would have been the more agreeable to me, 

 because my early friend Herschel was at that time the senior Secre- 

 tary. 



" This arrangement was agreed to by Sir Humphry Davy, and I 

 left town with the full assurance that I was to have the appoint- 

 ment. In the mean time Sir Humphry Davy summoned a Council 

 at an unusual hour — eight o'clock in the evening — for a special pur- 

 pose, some arrangements of the Treasurer's accounts. 



"After the business relating to the Treasurer was got through, Sir 

 Humphry Davy observed that there was a Secretaryship vacant, and ] 

 he proposed to fill it up. Dr. Wollaston then asked Sir H. Davy if j 

 he claimed the nomination as a right of the President, to which Sir 

 H. Davy replied that he did, and then nominated Mr. Children j 

 The President, as President, had no such right, and even if he had 

 possessed it, he had promised Mr. Herschel that I should be his 

 colleague. There were upright and eminent men on that Council ; 

 yet not one of them had the moral courage to oppose the President's 



* Op. cit. pp. 187-189. 



f Reflections on the Decline of Science in England. 



