MY DEAR PURKIS,

TO SAMUEL PURKIS, ESQ.

I INCLOSE the little poem,* on which your praise has stamped a higher value, I fear, than it deserves.

If I thought that people in general would think as favourably of my poetical productions, I would write more verses, and would write them with more care; but I fear you are partial: I am very glad, however, that you like the little song; at some future period I will send you another.

With kind remembrances,

Unalterably your sincere friend,

H. DAVY.

On examining the laboratory notes made at this period, many of which, however, are nearly illegible from blots of ink and stains of acid, it would appear that his researches into the composition of mineral bodies were most extensive, and that he obtained many new results, of which he does not seem to have availed himself in any of his subsequent papers. To borrow a metaphor from his favourite amusement, he treated such results as small fry, which he returned to their native element to grow bigger, or to be again caught by some less aspiring brother of the angle.

Had Davy, at this period of his life, been anxious to obtain wealth,† such was his chemical reputation, and such the value attached to his judgment, that, by lending his assistance to manufacturers and projectors, he might easily have realized it; but his aspirations were of a nobler kind — SCIENTIFIC GLORY was the grand object for which his heart panted; by stopping to collect the golden apples, he might have lost the race.

The subject was "Julia's Eyes."

+ I am assured by one of his earliest friends that, at this period, he did not appear even to have an idea of the value of property. Any thing not immediately necessary to him he gave away, and never retained a book after he had read it.

R

CHAPTER V.

Sir Thomas Bernard allots Davy a piece of ground for Agricultural Experiments.-History of the Origin of the Royal Institution.-Its early labours. - Davy's Letters to Mr. Gilbert and to Mr. Poole.-Death of Mr. Gregory Watt.-Davy's passion for Fishing, with Anecdotes.—He makes a Tour in Ireland: his Letters on the subject.-His Paper on the Analysis of the Wavellite. His Memoirs on a new method of analysing Minerals which contain a fixed Alkali.— Reflections on the discovery of Galvanic Electricity.

VERY shortly after Davy had arrived in London, he formed an intimate friendship with Mr. (afterwards Sir Thomas) Bernard; and no sooner had he directed his attention to the subject of Philosophical Agriculture, than the worthy Baronet allotted him a considerable piece of ground near his villa at Roehampton, where, under his sole direction, numerous experiments were tried, many of which proved highly successful, and afterwards served for the illustration of various subjects in his work on AGRICULTURAL CHEMISTRY.

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Although devoted as Davy was to the pursuits of science, he entered warmly into all political plans for improving the condition of the people, and advancing the progress of civilization. "No one," says his friend Mr. Poole, was less a sectarian, if I may use the word, in religion, politics, or in science. He regarded with benevolence the sincere convictions of any class on the subject of belief, however they might differ from his own. In politics, he was the ardent friend of rational liberty. He gloried in the institutions of his country, and was anxious to see them maintained in their purity by timely and temperate reform." Indeed, in carefully analysing his mind, and tracing its developement, it appears that benevolence was one of its leading elements; the form in which it displayed its energies varying with the varying conditions of

intelligence. In boyish life, his imagination, acting upon his zeal for the welfare of his species, delighted, as we have seen, in the ideas of encountering dragons, and quelling the might of giants; but as fancy paled with the light of advancing years, and the judgment presented distincter appearances, the philanthropic antipathy which had been directed to those chimeras of the nursery, was transferred to the two great oppressions of society, and in Superstition he saw the dragons--in Despotism the giants that spread mischief and misery through the world.

Some of his early manuscripts are still in existence; and I shall here introduce a passage from one which has been lately transmitted to me by a gentleman resident in Penzance. The most trifling record becomes interesting when we can trace in it the germ of a particular opinion, or the first symptom of a quality which may afterwards have distinguished its possessor.

"Science is as yet in her infancy; but in her infancy she has done much for man. The discoveries hitherto so beneficial to mankind have been generally effected by the energies of individual minds:--what hopes may we not entertain of the rapid progress of the happiness of man when illumination shall become general — when the united powers of a number of scientific men shall be employed in discovery! Every thing seems to announce the rapid advance of this period of improvement. The time is approaching when despotism and superstition, those enormous chains that have so long enfettered mankind, shall be annihilated,-when liberated man shall display the mental energies for which he was created. At that period nations shall know that it is their interest to cultivate science, and that the benevolent philosophy is never separated from the happiness of mankind."

In his published writings we discover evidences of the same tendency; he suffers no opportunity to escape which can enable him to enforce his principle, and he extracts from the most common as well as from the least probable sources, comparisons and analogies for its illustration. The ingenuity with which this is accomplished often surprises and delights us; the effect upon the reader is frequently not unlike that occasioned by the flashes of wit, to which it surely must be closely allied, if wit be correctly defined by Johnson" a combination of dissimilar images, or the discovery of occult resemblances in things apparently unlike." Is not this opinion strikingly illustrated by the happy turn given to his observations "upon the process of obtaining nitrous oxide from nitre," when he says, "thus, if the hopes which these experiments induce us to indulge do not prove fallacious, a substance which has heretofore been

almost exclusively appropriated to the destruction of mankind, may become, in the hands of philosophy, the means of producing health and pleasure!"

Mr. Poole, who watched the whole of his progress from obscurity to distinction, and enjoyed his friendship for nearly thirty years, says, "To be useful to science and mankind was, to use his favourite expression, the pursuit in which he gloried. He was enthusiastically attached to science, and to men of science; and his heart yearned to promote their interests."

That Davy, with a mind so constituted, should have formed a strong and ardent attachment to Sir Thomas Bernard, and that this friendship should have been reciprocally cultivated, cannot be a matter of surprise.

I am happy in this opportunity of paying a tribute of respect to the memory of this most excellent person, with whom I had the pleasure of being well acquainted. His life was one continued scheme of active benevolence; and he merits a particular notice in these memoirs, as being one of the principal founders and patrons of the Royal Institution. Actuated by that noble and rational ambition which makes private pursuits subservient to public good, he directed all the energies of his mind, the influence of his station, and the resources of his wealth, towards promoting societies and schemes for encouraging the virtues and industry, and for ameliorating the condition of the lower classes.

In the beginning of November 1796, in conjunction with the late Bishop of Durham, Mr. Wilberforce, and Mr. Elliot, he established the SOCIETY FOR BETTERING THE CONDITION OF THE POOR. As one of the primary objects of the original promoters of this society was the formation of an institution which might teach the application of science to the advancement of the arts of life, and to the increase of domestic comforts, a select committee was appointed from its body, in January 1799, for the purpose of conferring with Count Rumford on the means of carrying such a scheme into practical effect. This committee consisted of the Earl of Winchelsea, Mr. Wilberforce, Mr. Sullivan, the Bishop of Durham, Sir Thomas Bernard, and some other members of the society; and in a few weeks they completed the arrangements, circulated printed proposals, and collected the subscriptions, which gave birth to the ROYAL INSTITUTION OF GREAT BRITAIN, the future cradle of experimental science, and the destined scene of Davy's glory.

In addition to the general objects of promoting the arts and manufactures, and of advancing the taste and science of the country, its more immediate pur

pose was the improvement of the means of industry and domestic comfort among the poor.

That this benevolent design was constantly kept in sight may be shown by the several resolutions passed at the different meetings of the managers, especially at that held in March 1800; when it was resolved to appoint fourteen different committees, for the purpose of scientific investigation and improvement; amongst which were the following:

"For the investigation into the processes of making bread, and into the methods of improving it.

"For enquiring into the art of preparing cheap and nutritious soups for feeding the poor.

"For improving the construction of cottages, and cottage fire-places; and for improving kitchen fire-places, and kitchen utensils.

"For ascertaining, by experiment, the effects of the various processes of cookery upon the food of cattle.

"For improving the construction of lime-kilns, and the composition of mortar and cements," &c. &c.

So that the foundation and original arrangements of the Royal Institution were not only calculated to extend the boundaries of science, but to increase its applications and to promote and improve those arts of life on which the subsistence of all, and the comfort and enjoyment of the great majority of mankind absolutely depend.

At this early period of its history, the Royal Institution presented a scene of the most animated bustle and exhilarating activity. Persons most distinguished in the various departments of science and art were to be seen zealously and liberally co-operating for the promotion and diffusion of public happiness, under the cheering beams of popular favour and exalted patronage. It was like a busy ant-hill in calm and sunshine.'

I shall only add, that Sir Thomas Bernard was the original promoter of the "School for the Indigent Blind," of an institution for the protection and instruction of "Climbing Boys,” of a society for the relief of "Poor Neighbours in Distress," of the "Cancer Institution," and of the "London Fever Hospital."

The philanthropic Baronet was, moreover, the founder of the "British Institution," for promoting the Fine Arts in the United Kingdom; and he was also the originator of the "Alfred Club."