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.
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 purpose 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 a calm 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."
The vast range and practical utility of these exertions were duly appreciated by his contemporaries, who were ever ready to promote any scheme which had received the sanction of his patronage. It is an anecdote worthy of being preserved, that the late Sir Robert Peel called upon him one morning, and after a general conversation on the different philanthropic objects they had in view, said on leaving the room, he had to request that Sir Thomas would dispose of something for him, in any manner he thought most serviceable, and laid on the table an enclosure. After he had left the house, Sir Thomas was greatly surprised, on opening it, to find a bank-note of a thousand pounds.
The active zeal of Sir T. Bernard, like every other circumstance which exceeds the ordinary standard of our conduct, or becomes prominent from the rarity of its occurrence, called forth the wit as well as the admiration of his contemporaries. One of those modern travellers who delight in astonishing their auditors by incredible tales and marvellous anecdotes, happening to be in company with a noble lord as much distinguished for the playfulness of his wit as for the profundity of his learning, told the following improbable story: that, in a sequestered part of Italy, when pressed by hunger and fatigue, he sought refreshment and repose in a wild dwelling in the mountains, and was agreeably surprised at being offered a pie; but, horror of horrors! on examining its contents he found—a human finger!—"Nothing more probable, Sir," interrupted his Lordship; "and I well know the person to whom that finger belonged—to Sir Thomas Bernard, Sir, for he had a finger in every pie."
The following letters will be read in this place with interest.
TO DAVIES GIDDY, ESQ.
MY DEAR SIR,
I am now on my way to Christchurch, in company with Mr. Bernard, who was the founder, and has been the great supporter, of the Society for bettering the condition of the Poor.
In a conversation that has just passed between us, I mentioned the state of improvement of the Downs between Helston and Marazion, in consequence of grants of small portions of land to miners and other tenants for cultivation, many of which have, I believe, been made by Lord Dunstanville. Mr. Bernard expressed a desire to know what the effect of this plan had been on the condition of the persons thus raised into "property-men."
He is accumulating facts as to the manner in which the poor have been most effectually benefited, and to assist his labour would be to assist a good and most important cause; perhaps, you will have the goodness to give me a statement on this subject, which of course shall be used as you may think proper. You may likewise have similar facts nearer home, on your own estates.
I am convinced that the effects of enabling the common labourer to acquire property must be striking, and must often have been an object of your contemplation.
In making any statement of these facts, you will probably think it right to mention some particular cases, with dates, names, and accounts of the quantities of lands, the nature of the improvements, &c.
In the reports of the "Society for bettering the condition of the Poor," there is one made on this minute plan of Lord Winchelsea's grants of land to cottagers, which conveys very full and useful information.
I trust to your kindness, and believe me
Your obliged,
H. Davy.
The following letter was written by Davy after his return from an excursion to that beautiful district, the north-west of the county of Somerset.
TO THOMAS POOLE, ESQ.
October, 1804.
MY DEAR POOLE,
I returned to town a little while ago, not sorry to see the great city of activity and life; not sorry to see it, though I had just spent two months in enjoying a scenery beautiful and, to me, new; in witnessing much hospitality and unadulterated manners, and in gaining much useful information.
Mr. Bernard is writing a history of the poor. I have lived much with him at Roehampton since my return, and he has read to me part of his work, which is popularly eloquent, very intelligent, and full of striking and important truths; but pray say nothing of this, for it is likely that it will appear without his name: the facts will be strong, and perhaps to some people offensive.
I have received a letter from Coleridge within the last three weeks: he writes from Malta, in good spirits, and, as usual, from the depth of his being. God bless him!—He was intended for a great man; I hope and trust he will, at some period, appear as such.
I am working very hard at this moment, and I hope soon to send you some of the fruits of my labours. I am likewise devising some plans at our Institute, for the improvement of "this generation of vipers;" but, although I am so vain as to announce them, I will not be so tedious as to detail them.
In your answer, which I hope I shall soon receive, pray give me an account of the situation of "Poole's Marsh," with regard to the Parrot,[49] for I have mentioned the soil in a paper to the Board of Agriculture, which is now in the press.
I am, my dear Poole,
Your truly affectionate friend,
H. Davy.
In this year, Davy was deprived of one of his earliest and most attached friends, after a lingering illness, during which his symptoms, by the alternations which characterise consumption, had inspired his friends with hope, only to chill them with despondency;—Gregory Watt terminated his earthly career.[50]
On the first impression which this melancholy event produced upon his feelings, Davy wrote a letter to his friend Clayfield, from which the following is an extract.
"I scarcely dare to write upon the subject—I would fain do what Hamlet does, when, in awe and horror at the ghost of his father, he attempts to call up the ludicrous feeling, but being unable to do so, he merely employs the words which are connected with it.—I would be gay, or I would write gaily, in alluding to the loss we have both sustained, but I feel that it is impossible. Poor Watt!—He ought not to have died. I could not persuade myself that he would die; and until the very moment when I was assured of his fate, I would not believe he was in any danger.
"His letters to me, only three or four months ago, were full of spirit, and spoke not of any infirmity of body, but of an increased strength of mind. Why is this in the order of Nature, that there is such a difference in the duration and destruction of her works? If the mere stone decays, it is to produce a soil which is capable of nourishing the moss and the lichen; when the moss and the lichen die and decompose, they produce a mould which becomes the bed of life to grass, and to a more exalted species of vegetables. Vegetables are the food of animals,—the less perfect animals of the more perfect; but in man, the faculties and intellect are perfected,—he rises, exists for a little while in disease and misery, and then would seem to disappear, without an end, and without producing any effect.
"We are deceived, my dear Clayfield, if we suppose that the human being who has formed himself for action, but who has been unable to act, is lost in the mass of being: there is some arrangement of things which we can never comprehend, but in which his faculties will be applied.
"The caterpillar, in being converted into an inert scaly mass, does not appear to be fitting itself for an inhabitant of air, and can have no consciousness of the brilliancy of its future being. We are masters of the earth, but perhaps we are the slaves of some great and unknown beings. The fly that we crush with our finger, or feed with our viands, has no knowledge of man, and no consciousness of his superiority. We suppose that we are acquainted with matter, and with all its elements, and yet we cannot even guess at the cause of electricity, or explain the laws of the formation of the stones which fall from meteors. There may be beings,—thinking beings, near us, surrounding us, which we do not perceive, which we can never imagine. We know very little; but, in my opinion, we know enough to hope for the immortality, the individual immortality of the better part of man.
"I have been led into all this speculation, which you may well think wild, in reflecting upon the fate of Gregory! my feeling has given erring wings to my mind. He was a noble fellow, and would have been a great man.—Oh! there was no reason for his dying—he ought not to have died.
"Blessings wait on you, my good fellow! Pray remember me to Tobin, and, if you read this letter to him, protest, the moment he begins to argue against the immortality of man!
"I came yesterday from the borders of Dorsetshire, where I have been since Monday, seduced to travel by a friend. I was within sixty miles of you, and saw divers fair trout-streams: let the fish beware of me,—I shall be at them on Monday."
I have included this latter sentence in my extract, as being highly characteristic of the writer. His passion for angling betrayed itself upon all occasions; and the sport was alike his relief in toil, and his solace in sorrow. To his conversation, as well as to his letters, we may aptly apply the words of the Augustan poet:—
"Desinit in piscem——formosa superne."
Whenever I had the honour of dining at his table, the conversation, however it might have commenced, invariably ended on fishing; and when a brother of the angle happened to be present, you had the pleasure of hearing all his encounters with the finny tribe—how he had lured them by his treachery, and vanquished them by his perseverance. He would occasionally strike into a most eloquent and impassioned strain upon some subject which warmed his fancy; such, for example, as the beauties of mountain scenery; but before you could fully enjoy the prospect which his imagination had pictured, down he carried you into some sparkling stream, or rapid current, to flounder for the next half hour with a hooked salmon!
I remember witnessing, upon one of these occasions, a very amusing scene, which may be related as illustrative of some peculiarities of his temper. I believe all those who have accompanied Davy in his fishing excursions, will allow that no sportsman was ever more ambitious to appear skilful and lucky. Nothing irritated him so much as to find that his companions had caught more fish than himself; and if, during conversation, a brother fisherman surpassed him in the relation of his success, he betrayed similar impatience.
There happened to be present, on the occasion to which I allude, a skilful angler, and an enterprising chemist. The latter commenced on some subject connected with his favourite science; but Davy, who, generally speaking, disliked to make it a subject of conversation, suddenly turned to the angler, and related what he considered a very surprising instance of his success: his sporting friend, however, mortified him by the relation of a still more marvellous anecdote; upon which Davy as quickly returned to the chemist, who, in turn, again sent him back to the angler:—and thus did he appear to endure the unhappy fate of the flying fish, who no sooner escapes from an enemy in the regions of air, than he is pursued by one equally rapacious in the waters.—But to return to the thread of our history.
In referring to the records of the Institution, it appears that in January 1805, Davy greatly enriched the cabinets of the Institution by a present of minerals. The following are the Minutes of the Committee upon this occasion:
"January 21, 1805.—Mr. Hatchett reported that, in pursuance of the request of the Managers, he had inspected the minerals presented to the Royal Institution by Mr. Davy, and that the aggregate value (including the duplicate specimens) appears to him to exceed one hundred guineas."
"January 28.—The Managers took into consideration Mr. Hatchett's report at the last meeting, and resolved that Mr. Davy is entitled to the thanks of the Managers for having added so valuable a present to the collection of minerals belonging to the Institution."
On the 4th of February, it was Resolved—"That Mr. Davy be appointed Director of the Laboratory, at a salary of one hundred pounds a-year; by which his annual income from the Institution was raised to four hundred pounds. At this period he delivered a series of lectures on Geology, or on the chemical history of the earth; to which we find an allusion in the following letter.
TO THOMAS POOLE, ESQ.
February, 1805.
MY DEAR POOLE,
I am very much obliged to you for your last kind letter, and I thank you most sincerely for the exertion of your friendship at Bath. I thank you with very warm feelings.
I hope you will soon come to town; that you will stay a long time; and that we shall be very much together.
I paid your subscription to Arthur Young for the Smithfield Club. Pray, at all times, command me to do any thing I can for you in London:—you cannot teaze me; and though I am a very idle fellow, yet I can always work if the stimulus be the desire of serving such a friend as yourself.
I am giving my course of lectures on Geology to very crowded audiences. I take a great interest in the subject; and I hope the information given will be useful.
There has been no news lately from Coleridge; the last accounts state that he was well in the autumn, and in Sicily. On that poetic ground, we may hope and trust that his genius will call forth some new creations, and that he may bring back to us some garlands of never-dying verse. I have written to urge him strongly to give a course of lectures on Poetry at the Royal Institution, where his feeling would strongly impress, and his eloquence greatly delight. I am, my dear Poole, most affectionately
Yours,
H. Davy.
On the 20th of May, in this year, Mr. Hatchett reported to the Managers of the Institution—"that Mr. Davy proposed making a journey into Wales and Ireland this summer, having in view to collect specimens for enriching the mineralogical cabinets;" in consequence of which it was Resolved—"That the sum of one hundred pounds be entrusted to Mr. Davy to purchase minerals, and to defray the incidental charges; and that the boy of the Laboratory, William Reeve,[51] be ordered to attend him on his tour, and that the steward be directed to defray his expenses.
From the following letters, it would appear that, having accomplished his purpose of visiting Ireland, he made a rapid journey into Cornwall for the sake of seeing his mother and sisters.
TO DAVIES GIDDY, ESQ.
Okehampton, September 1805.
MY DEAR SIR,
I am accompanying my friend Mr. Bernard in a tour through the West of England, and I hope we shall reach Penzance in two or three days.
Mr. Bernard wishes much for the honour of your acquaintance, and I trust you will permit me to have the pleasure of making you known to him. Much kindness and long knowledge of him, may have made me partial to that gentleman, and may perhaps influence me when I say, that there is not a more patriotic, good, and public-spirited man in Great Britain.
I came from Ireland by the western road, about a fortnight ago. My expectations were fully satisfied with the appearances of the "Giant's Causeway." The arrangements of rocks of the Northern Cape of Ireland appear to me to present facts equally irreconcilable upon either the Plutonic or Neptunian theory; and I am convinced that general fanciful theories will lose ground in proportion as minute observations are multiplied.
The Irish are a noble race, degraded by slavery, and bearing the insignia of persecution, extreme savageness, or the lowest servility; yet they are ingenious and active, and seem to me to possess all the elements of power and usefulness; but amongst the lower orders there is a most unfortunate equality, destructive of all great and efficient exertion; and amongst the higher classes the greatest degree of activity is awakened only by the desire of imitating the English, and that not so much in their virtues and talents, as in their luxuries and follies.
I hear from all quarters of the good effects of your late exertions in Parliament. May your efforts tend to establish the reign of good sense and pure philosophy, in a place where they have been too often found to yield to empty sounds!
Yours, &c.
H. Davy.
TO THOMAS POOLE, ESQ.
London, Oct. 9, 1805.
MY DEAR POOLE,
I MADE a very rapid journey to Cornwall with Mr. Bernard, merely for the sake of showing him the country, and for the purpose of spending a week with my mother and sisters.
We made an effort to come to you at Nether Stowey, but the people at Bridgewater would not take us round, through Stowey, to Taunton, without four horses; and at all events we could only have spent two or three hours with you; and it is difficult to say whether the pleasure of meeting, or the regret at parting so soon, would have been the greatest. I long very much for the intercourse of a week with you. I have very much to say about Ireland. It is an island which might be made a new and a great country. It now boasts a fertile soil, an ingenious and robust peasantry, and a rich aristocracy; but the bane of the nation is the equality of poverty amongst the lower orders. All are slaves without the probability of becoming free; they are in the state of equality which the Sansculottes wished for in France; and until emulation and riches, and the love of clothes and neat houses, are introduced amongst them, there will be no permanent improvement.
Changes in political institutions can at first do little towards serving them. It must be by altering their habits, by diffusing manufactories, by destroying middle-men, by dividing farms,[52] and by promoting industry by making the pay proportioned to the work. But I ought not to attempt to say any thing on the subject when my limits are so narrow; I hope soon to converse with you about it.
I found much to interest me in geology in Ireland, and I have brought away a great deal of information, and many specimens.
I shall now be in London till Christmas, with the exception of next week, which I am obliged to pass in Bedfordshire. I am, my dear Poole,
Most affectionately your's,
H. Davy.
After the Giant's Causeway, the scenery which called forth Davy's greatest admiration in Ireland was that of Fair-Head. To an enthusiastic lover of the wild and sublime features of Nature, an object of greater interest could scarcely be presented than a vast promontory, the summit of which rises five hundred feet above the sea, and at whose base lies a waste of rude and gigantic columns, swept by the hand of Time from the mountain to which they formerly belonged.
The following fragment, written by Davy at the time, has been placed in my hands by Mr. Greenough.
"——But chiefly thee, Fair-Head!
Unrivall'd in thy form and majesty!
For on thy loftiest summit I have walk'd
In the bright sunshine, while beneath thee roll'd
The clouds in purest splendour, hiding now
The Ocean and his islands—parting now
As if reluctantly: whilst full in view
The blue tide wildly roll'd, skirted with foam,
And bounded by the green and smiling land,
The dim pale mountains, and the purple sky.
Majestic cliff! thou birth of unknown Time,
Long had the billows beat thee, long the waves
Rush'd o'er thy hollow'd rocks, ere life adorn'd
Thy broken surface, ere the yellow moss
Had tinted thee, or the mild dews of Heaven
Clothed thee with verdure, or the eagles made
Thy cave their aëry: so in after time
Long shalt thou rest unalter'd mid the wreck
Of all the mightiness of human works;
For not the lightning nor the whirlwind's force,
Nor all the waves of ocean, shall prevail
Against thy giant strength—and thou shalt stand
Till the Almighty voice which bade thee rise
Shall bid thee fall."
Amongst Davy's letters to Mr. Gilbert, in the years 1804 and 1805, I find several upon the subject of the elastic force of steam, at different temperatures, with reference to Mr. Trevitheck's improvements in the steam-engine; in one of which he says, "I shall be extremely happy to hear of the results of your enquiries, and I hope you will not confine them to your friends, but make them public. Whenever speculative leads to practical discovery, it ought to be well remembered, and generally known: one of the most common arguments against the philosophical exercise of the understanding is, Cui bono? It is an absurd argument, and every fact against it ought to be carefully registered. Trevitheck's engine will not be forgotten; but it ought to be known and remembered that your reasonings and mathematical enquiries led to the discovery."
On the 28th of February 1805, was read before the Royal Society, and published in the Transactions of that year, a paper entitled, "An Account of some analytical Experiments on a mineral production from Devonshire, consisting principally of Alumina and Water; by Humphry Davy, &c."
This mineral was first discovered by Dr. Wavel, in small veins and cavities, in a tender argillaceous slate, near Barnstaple in Devonshire. At first it was considered as a species of Zeolite, until Mr. Hatchett concluded, from its geological position, that it did not belong to that family of minerals. Dr. Babington subsequently suspected from its physical characters, and from some of its habitudes with acids, that it was a mineral not before described, and accordingly placed a quantity of it in Davy's hands for analysis; who, on finding in its composition little more than clay and water, proposed to change the name of Wavellite for that of Hydrargyllite, as better expressive of its chemical nature. He however, at the same time, alludes to traces of an acid which he was unable to identify.
In a letter to Mr. Nicholson, dated Killarney, June 15, 1806, and which was afterwards published in his Journal, Davy refers to this fact in the following manner:—
DEAR SIR,
I SHALL feel much obliged to you to mention that I have found the acid which exists in minute quantities in Wavellite to be the Fluoric acid, in such a peculiar state of combination as not to be rendered sensible by sulphuric acid. I am, &c.
H. Davy.
My late friend the Reverend William Gregor, having found the Wavellite at Stenna Gwynn, in Cornwall, submitted it to experiment, and the result certainly established the conclusion of the presence of fluoric acid, though not rendered apparent by the usual tests. The facts were transmitted to the Royal Society, and published in a paper entitled, "On a mineral Substance, formerly supposed to be Zeolite; by the Reverend William Gregor."
The subsequent experiments of Berzelius, however, cleared away the obscurity in which the subject was still involved. He showed that this mineral not only contained in its composition a small portion of the neutral fluate of alumina, but he demonstrated the presence of a sub-phosphate of that earth, to no inconsiderable an amount. Much has been said of the error committed on this occasion by Davy, in overlooking thirty-three per cent. of phosphoric acid; but the phosphate of alumina is a body that might very easily have escaped notice at a period when mineral analysis was in a far less advanced state than it is at present.
On the 16th of May 1805, Davy communicated to the Royal Society a paper "On the method of analyzing Stones containing a fixed Alkali, by means of the Boracic Acid." This method was founded upon two important facts: first, on the considerable attraction of boracic acid for the different simple earths at the heat of ignition; and, secondly, on the facility with which the compounds so formed are decomposed by the mineral acids. The processes are extremely simple, and the method must be considered as having advanced the art of mineral analysis.
For this and his preceding papers, the President and Council of the Royal Society adjudged to him their Copley medal.
In 1806, Mr. Poole, having consulted Davy on the subject of a Mine occurring near Nether Stowy, received from him the following letter, which is interesting from the political opinions it displays.
TO THOMAS POOLE, ESQ.
MY DEAR POOLE,
What you have written concerning the indifference of men with regard to the interest of the species in future ages, is perfectly just and philosophical; but the greatest misfortune is, that men do not attend even to their own interest, and to the interest of their own age in public matters. They think in moments, instead of thinking, as they ought to do, in years; and they are guided by expediency rather than by reason. The true political maxim is, that the good of the whole community is the good of every individual; but how few statesmen have ever been guided by this principle! In almost all governments, the plan has been to sacrifice one part of the community to other parts:—sometimes, the people to the aristocracy; at other times, the aristocracy to the people;—sometimes, the Colonies to the Mother-country; and at other times, the Mother-country to the Colonies. A generous enlightened policy has never existed in Europe since the days of Alfred; and what has been called "the balance of power"—the support of civilization,—has been produced only by jealousy, envy, bitterness, contest, and eternal war, either carried on by pens or cannon, destroying men morally and physically! But if I proceed in vague political declamation, I shall have no room left for the main object of my letter—your Mine. I wish it had been in my power to write decidedly on the subject; but your county is a peculiar one: such indications would be highly favourable in Cornwall; but in a shell-limestone of late formation, there have as yet been no instances of great copper mines. I hope, however, that your mine will produce a rich store of facts.
Miners from Alston Moor, or from Derbyshire, would understand your country better than Cornish miners, for the Cornish shifts are wholly different from yours. It would be well for you to have some workmen at least from the North, as they are well acquainted with shell-limestone.
The Ecton copper mine in Staffordshire is in this rock: it would be right for you to get a plan and a history of that mine, which might possibly assist your views.
Had I been rich, I would adventure; but I am just going to embark with all the little money I have been able to save for a scientific expedition to Norway, Lapland, and Sweden. In all climes, I shall be your warm and sincere friend,
H. Davy.
On the death of Dr. Edward Whitaker Gray, Secretary of the Royal Society, Davy was elected into that office, at an extraordinary meeting of the Society, on the 22nd of January 1807; and at the same time he was elected a member of the Council.
We are now advancing to that brilliant period in the history of our philosopher, at which he effected those grand discoveries in science, which will transmit his name to posterity, associated with those of Newton, Bacon, Locke, and the great master-spirits of every age and country:—I speak of his developement of the Laws of Voltaic Electricity.
I approach the subject with that diffidence which the contemplation of mighty achievements must ever produce in the mind of the historian, when he compares the extent and magnitude of his subject with the limited and feeble powers which are to describe them.
As the advantages afforded by the history of any great discovery consist as much in exhibiting, step by step, the intellectual operations by which it was accomplished, as in detailing its nature and applications, or in examining its relations with previously established truths; so shall I be unable to preserve a chronological succession in the examination of those several memoirs which he presented to the Royal Society, without breaking asunder that fine intellectual thread, by which his mind was conducted through the intricate paths of nature from known to unknown phenomena. For this reason, although I announced, according to the date of its publication, the subject of his first paper on electricity, I deferred entering upon its examination, until I might be able to bring into one uninterrupted view the whole enquiry, in all its branches and bearings.
It is impossible to enter upon the subject of galvanism, or Voltaic electricity, without recurring to the circumstance which first betrayed the existence of such an energy in nature, and to the sanguine expectations which the discovery so naturally excited.
On witnessing the powerful contraction of a muscular fibre by the mere contact of certain metals, it was rational to conclude, that the nature and operation of the mysterious power of vital irritability might, at length, be discovered by a new train of scientific research. It is a curious fact, that an experiment so full of promise to the physiologist should have hitherto failed in affording him any assistance in his investigations; while the chemist, to whom it did not, at first, appear to offer any one single point of interest, has derived from it a new and highly important instrument of research, which has already, under the guidance of Davy, multiplied discoveries with such rapidity, and to such an extent, that it is not even possible to anticipate the limits of its power.
We have here, then, another striking instance of a great effect produced by means apparently insignificant. Who could have imagined it possible, that the spasmodic action occasioned in the limb of a frog, by the accidental contact of a pair of scissors, should have become the means of changing the whole theory of chemistry—of discovering substances, whose very existence was never suspected—of explaining the anomalous associations of mineral bodies in the veins of the earth—of protecting surfaces of metal from the corrosive action of the elements—of elucidating the theories of volcanoes and earthquakes—and, may we not add? of leading the way to a knowledge of the laws of terrestrial magnetism!
Such an unexpected extension of an apparently useless fact should dispose us to entertain a kinder regard for the labours of one another, and teach us to judge with diffidence of the abstract results of science. A discovery which may appear incapable of useful application to-day, may be our glory to-morrow,—it may even change the face of empires, and wield the destiny of nations.
The conic sections of Apollonius Pergæus remained useless for two thousand years: who could have supposed that, after the lapse of twenty centuries, they would have formed the basis of astronomy?—a science giving to navigation safety, guiding the pilot through unknown seas, and tracing for him in the heavens an unerring path to his native shores.
Some apology may be necessary for this digression; but, I confess, the subject has always appeared to me to be capable of much interesting illustration, and I heartily concur in the opinion expressed by the accomplished author of "Lettres à Sophie"—"L'Histoire des grands effets par les petites causes ferait un livre bien curieux."