20 
Sir  lliunphry  Ihirn^  Bart.,  P.R.S. 
was  assailed  in  the  periodical  press  and  made  an  object  of 
sarcasm  and  censure.” 
The  disappointment  and  the  venomous  attacks  of  his 
calumniators,  following  on  other  troubles,  told  upon  Davy;  and 
after  this  he  did  little  work,  and  his  life  soon  closed. 
On  May  29,  1829,  Davy  died  at  Geneva,  a worn-out  man, 
at  the  age  of  fifty-one.  The  nature  of  his  complaint  and  the 
immediate  cause  of  his  death  was  not  clear  to  his  brother, 
who  would  have  desired  a i)ost-mortem  examination  had  not 
Sir  Humj)hry  felt  a dread  of  this,  “ founded  on  an  idea  that 
it  was  possible  for  sensation  to  remain  in  the  animal  fibre  after 
loss  of  irritability  and  the  power  of  giving  proof  to  others  of 
existence.”  He  therefore  exacted  from  Dr.  Davy  a promise 
that  it  should  not  be  undertaken.  There  does  not  appear  to 
have  been  any  particular  disease,  but  Davy  had  previously 
had  an  attack  of  paralysis,  and  not  being  of  a strong  consti- 
tution, a succession  of  disappointments  told  upoTi  a system 
overworked  through  life. 
When  Davy  died  the  country  lost  its  foremost  man  of 
science,  and  foreigners  united  with  Englishmen  in  the  expres- 
sion of  their  regret  at  the  world’s  irreparable  loss.  He  was 
a man  who  in  a most  unusual  manner  combined  the  {)oetical 
with  the  scientific  tem])erament.  Moreover  there  was  a charm 
about  all  he  did  which  attracted  those  who  came  in  contact 
with  him.  This  charm  remains  for  us  in  the  record  of  his 
life  and  work. 
Tt  is  not  necessary  to  give  an  account  of  all  Davy  did  for 
chemistry.  This  is  well  known  and  acknowledged  at  home 
and  abroad  ; in  fact  nothing  is  more  striking  than  the  instant 
recognition  of  his  genius  by  the  leaders  of  science  in  foreign 
countries.  Am[)ere  frequently  ex])ressed  his  o()inion  that 
Davy  was  the  greatest  chemist  that  had  ever  apj)eared,  and 
Dumas,  Ohevreul,  and  Cuvier  were  ecpially  emphatic  in  their 
praise.  Dr.  Thorpe  describes  in  warm  terms  the  beauty  of  his 
investigations  on  chlorine,  and  this  passage  is  worthy  of 
special  quotation,  as  it  well  expresses  the  united  intuition, 
l)rilliancy,  and  carefulness  shown  in  all  his  researches : — 
“H  e is  bold  and  yet  wary,  and  as  dexterous  as  trenchant ; 
so  confident  is  he  in  the  strength  of  his  [)osition  that  he  casts 
aside  every  argument  that  might  tell  in  his  favour,  unless  it 
is  based  on  the  most  unimpeachable  evidence.  It  is  difficult 
to  know  what  to  admire  most — the  clearness  of  perception, 
the  precision  of  the  statement,  the  strictness  of  the  logic. 
