8 
Sir  Humphry  Harn/,  Bart.,  B.R.S. 
talking  with  Sir  Joseph  Banks,  Sir  John  Sinclair,  and  Arthur 
Young.  In  1812  his  health  was  drunk  at  the  Woburn  Sheej)- 
shearing  by  John,  Duke  of  Bedford,  and  in  the  following  year 
it  w'as  proposed  by  Lord  Hardwicke. 
Other  bodies  wished  to  avail  themselves  of  Davy’s  remark- 
able pow'ers  of  interpretation  and  did  not  wish  them  to  he 
mono])olised  by  the  Royal  Institution  and  the  Board  of 
Agriculture.  . In  1810,  when  lecturing  in  Dublin  for  the 
Dublin  Society,  Davy  was  a])plied  to  by  the  Farming  Society 
for  six  lectures  on  “ The  Application  of  Chemistry  to  Agri- 
culture,” an  olfer  which  he  accepted.  He  received  750/.  for 
his  lectures,  and  a large  surplus  went  to  defray  expenses. 
The  ])ul)lisher  agreed  to  pay  1,000  guineas  for  the  co])yright 
of  the  Elements  of  Ayricultural  Chemistry  (1813),  and  fifty 
guineas  extra  for  each  subsequent  edition.  The  first  edition 
W'as  dedicated  to  the  President  and  Members  of  the  Board  of 
Agriculture,  at  whose  request  the  lectures  were  first  })uhlished, 
“ as  a testimony  of  the  respect  of  the  author,  and  of  gratitude 
for  the  attention  with  wdiich  they  have  been  received.” 
In  the  fourth  edition  Davy  wrote  : “ I endeavoured  at  all 
times  to  follow  in  them  the  progress  of  discovery,  they  therefore 
varied  every  year.”  Again  : “ It  is  in  the  farm  and  not  in 
the  laboratory  that  these  [])rinciples]  can  he  put  to  the  test  of 
experiment,  and  my  duties  and  j)ursuits  have  rendered  it 
impossible  to  me  to  do  more  than  point  out  the  ])ath  of  inquiry 
— to  indicate  the  road  to  improvement.” 
In  analysing  Davy’s  lectures  by  the  light  of  modern  science 
it  may  he  said  that  the  first  and  second  lectures  contained  little 
of  novelty  or  of  special  scientific  interest  even  w'hen  first 
published,  although  w'ritten  in  the  true  scientific  spirit.  This 
introduction  to  the  siibject  w'as  necessary  for  the  information 
of  his  audience  ; but  it  is  of  less  value  to  the  reader  of  the 
published  work.  The  second  lecture  deals  with  the  considera- 
tion of  the  general  pow'ers  of  matter  and  contains  an  outline 
of  the  principles  of  physical  science  es])ecially  as  affecting 
vegetables.  It  has  been  criticised  as  giving  too  much  detail 
relating  to  elements  which  have  little  or  no  concern  Avith 
vegetation. 
The  third  lecture  is  devoted  to  a statement  of  the  organi- 
sation and  living  system  of  ]>lants,  of  their  structure,  and  the 
chemical  ])roj)erties  of  the  substances  which  they  contain. 
Analyses  are  presented  of  the  nutritive  matters  contained  in 
various  substances.  The  work  was  highly  praised  at  the  time 
