His  reception  in  France. 
13 
in  his  own  mind  that  this  was  the  case,  he  could  not  but  be 
anxious  as  to  his  prospects.  The  future  was,  however,  soon  to 
take  a more  settled  aspect  in  his  eyes.  He  was  knighted  by 
the  Prince  Regent  at  a levee  in  1812,  and  in  the  same  year 
he  married  Mrs.  Apreece,  a widow  of  j)roperty.  At  this  time 
he  took  the  opportunity  of  retiring  from  his  professorships. 
In  1813,  a great  honour  was  extended  to  Davy  by  Napoleon 
(such  as  had  been  extended  to  Jenner,  the  introducer  of  vaccina- 
tion). At  a time  when  France  was  at  war  with  this  country 
Davy  was  allowed  to  travel  with  his  party  through  France  in 
order  that  he  might  examine  the  causes  of  volcanic  action. 
The  permission  was  not  understood  by  the  local  authorities, 
and  when  the  travellers  landed  the  authenticity  of  their  pass- 
ports was  questioned,  the  officials  believing  it  impossible  that 
an  English  party  could,  under  any  circumstances,  have  obtained 
permission  to  travel  in  France.  Davy  and  those  with  him  were 
therefore  forced  to  remain  at  Morlaix  for  six  or  seven  days,  until 
the  necessary  instructions  could  he  received.  In  due  course 
they  were  set  at  liberty  and  reached  Paris  on  October  27. 
The  French  savans  vied  with  each  other  in  doing  honour  to 
their  country’s  guest,  and  at  a meeting  of  the  Institute  he  was 
placed  on  the  right  hand  of  the  President,  who,  on  taking  the 
chair,  announced  to  the  meeting  that  it  was  honoured  by  the 
presence  of  “ le  Chevalier  Davy.”  The  chemists  gave  him  a 
dinner,  at  which  were  present,  Gay-Lussac,  Thenard,  Dulong, 
Chevreul,  Laugier,  Robi({uet,  and  Clement  ; and  at  the 
anniversary  dinner  of  the  Philomathic  Society,  on  November  13, 
the  distinguished  members  exhibited  a remarkable  instance  of 
complacency  to  Davy,  who  was  a guest.  The  first  toast  was 
“ The  Royal  Society  of  London,”  for  which  Davy  returned 
thanks,  and  proposed  “The  Imperial  Institute.”  “The  Linnaean 
Society  of  London  ” and  “ The  Royal  Society  of  Berlin  ” were 
given  in  succession,  but  the  circumstance  worthy  of  special 
note  is  that  the  com{)any  refrained  from  drinking  the  Emperor’s 
health  in  consideration  of  the  feelings  of  the  English  guest. 
Davy  was  elected  a Corresponding  Member  of  the  Institute  on 
December  13  ; there  were  forty-eight  members  present,  and 
he  had  forty-seven  votes,  Guyton  de  Morveau  being  the  only 
member  who  opposed  the  election.' 
Besides  the  general  interest  of  this  visit  it  is  specially 
memorable  for  Davy’s  investigation  on  the  properties  and 
relations  of  iodine,  a s.ubstance  discovered  by  CJourtois  in  this 
1 Paris’s  X'/e,  Vol.  2,  page  26. 
