6 
Sir  Ihtmphry  Davy,  Bart.,  P.R.S. 
Observations  on  tlie  Constituent  Parts  of  cerbiin  Astringent 
Vegetables  and  on  their  operation  in  Tanning,’’  which  was 
printed  in  the  P hilosophical  Transactions. 
In  1803  he  was  elected  a Fellow  of  the  Royal  Society, 
from  which  body  he  received  the  Copley  Medal,  the  highest 
honour  it  could  confer,  as  well  as  other  medals.  Davy’s  career 
was  now  one  long  triumph.  To  the  acclamations  of  the  public 
were  added  the  cordial  acknowledgments  of  the  scientific  world. 
His  Bakerian  lecture  before  the  Royal  Society,  on  “ Some 
Chemical  Agencies  of  Electricity  ” (November,  180(1),  gained 
him  the  prize  of  the  French  Institute. 
The  sudden  transportation  of  a youth  from  the  provinces  into 
the  midst  of  the  fashionable  w'orld  of  London,  and  his  enthusi- 
astic reception  there,  is  a circumstance  rare  in  scientific  hi.story. 
Davy  made  his  mark  by  his  first  lecture  ; that  obtained  for 
him  a position  from  which  he  never  receded,  but  rather, 
improved  by  new  triumpbs  in  his  rapid  march  to  fame.  There 
was  a charm  of  manner  in  Humphry  Davy,  and  an  underlying 
power,  that  drew  to  him  the  best  of  all  classes. 
Dr.  Thorpe  points  out  how  great  was  the  influence  exerted 
by  Davy  on  the  success  of  the  Royal  Institution.  “The  sub- 
scri])tions,  which  in  1800  had  reached  11,047/.,  had  fallen  in 
1802  to  2,999/.,  whilst  the  ex])enses  were  annually  increasing. 
The  outlook  was  gloomy  in  the  extreme,  and  everything  seemed 
to  ])ortend  that  the  latest  scheme  for  the  amelioration  of 
humanity  was  about  to  share  the  too  common  fate  of  such 
])rojects.  The  young  man  of  twenty-three,  however,  changed 
all  this  as  if  by  the  stroke  of  a magician’s  wand.  No  Prince 
Fortunatus  could  have  done  more.”' 
We  thus  see  that  the  Board  of  Agriculture  obtained  the 
services  not  only  of  the  lecturer  best  fitted  to  carry  out  their 
wishes,  but  also  one  who  was  universally  recognised  as  a man 
of  mark.  He  whose  lectures  were  attended  by  (kderidge  for 
the  purpose  (as  the  ])oet  himself  stated)  of  increasing  his  own 
stock  of  metaphors  could  have  been  no  ordinary  lecturer. 
From  his  childhood  he  was  familiar  more  or  less  with  farming 
o])erations.  When  preparing  for  his  lectures  he  appealed  to 
a (Jornishman,  and  in  writing  to  Gilbert  in  1802  he  says  : 
“ In  addition  to  the  common  course  of  the  Institution  I 
have  to  delivei-  a few  lectures  on  ‘ Vegetable  Substances,’ 
and  on  ‘The  Gonnection  of  (fiiemistry  with  Vegetable 
Physiology,’  before  the  Board  of  Agriculture.  I have  begun 
* Humphry  Davy,  Poet  and  Philosopher,  1896,  page  74. 
