TO THE MEMORY OF
SIR HUMPHRY DAVY, BARONET;
DISTINGUISHED THROUGHOUT THE WORLD
BY HIS
DISCOVERIES IN CHEMICAL SCIENCE.
PRESIDENT OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY;
MEMBER OF THE NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF FRANCE.
BORN 17 DECEMBER 1778, AT PENZANCE.
DIED 28 MAY 1829, AT GENEVA,
WHERE HIS REMAINS ARE INTERRED.
The numerous scientific societies of which he was a member, will, no doubt, consecrate his memory. An eloquent Eloge has been read by Baron Cuvier before the Institute of France; but it has not yet been published: I have obtained, however, a copy of a speech delivered upon the same occasion, by H. C. Van der Boon Mesch, before the Institute of the Netherlands.
Mr. Davies Gilbert, his early friend and patron, has likewise paid to his memory a just and appropriate testimony of respect and admiration, in an address from the chair of the Royal Society.
The inhabitants of Penzance and its neighbourhood, animated by feelings of honourable pride and strong local attachment, will shortly, it is understood, raise a pyramid of massive granite to his memory, on one of those elevated spots of silence and solitude, where he delighted in his boyish days to commune with the elements, and where the Spirit of Nature moulded his genius in one of her wildest moods.
As yet, no intention on the part of the Government to commemorate this great philosopher, by the erection of a national monument, has been manifested: for the credit, however, of an age which is so continually distinguished as the most enlightened period in our history, I do hope the disgrace of such an omission may pass from us; although, I confess, it is rather to be wished than expected, when it is remembered that not a niche has been graced by the statue of Watt, while the giant iron children of his inventive genius are serving mankind in every quarter of the civilized world. A very erroneous impression would seem to exist with regard to the object and importance of such monuments. They are not to honour the dead, but to improve the living; not to give lustre to the philosopher, but to afford a salutary incentive to the disciple; not to perpetuate discoveries, for they can never be lost; but to animate scientific genius, and to engage it upon objects that may be useful to the commonwealth. Let it be remembered, that the ardour of the Roman youth was kindled into active emulation, whenever they beheld the images of their ancestors.
"Nam sæpe audivi, Q. Maximum, P. Scipionem, præterea civitatis nostræ præclaros viros, solitos ita dicere, cùm majorum imagines intuerentur, vehementissimè sibi animum ad virtutem accendi. Scilicet non ceram illam, neque figuram tantam vim in sese habere; sed memoriâ rerum gestarum eam flammam egregiis viris in pectore crescere, neque prius sedari, quàm virtus eorum famam atque gloriam adæquaverit."[130]
The fame of such a philosopher as Davy can never be exalted by any frail memorial which man can raise. His monument is in the great Temple of Nature.[131] His chroniclers are Time and the Elements. The destructive agents which reduce to dust the storied urn, the marble statue, and the towering pyramid, were the ministers of his power, and their work of decomposition is a perpetual memorial of his intelligence.
A SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF CHEMICAL SCIENCE, WITH A VIEW TO EXHIBIT THE REVOLUTIONS PRODUCED IN ITS DOCTRINES BY THE DISCOVERIES OF SIR HUMPHRY DAVY.
The rapidity with which chemical opinions have risen into notice, flourished for a while, and then fallen into disrepute, to be succeeded by others equally precarious in their tenure and ephemeral in their popularity, are circumstances which the superficial reasoner has ever deplored, and the Sciolist as constantly converted into arguments against the soundness of the science which produced them. The leaves of a season will sprout, expand, and wither; and the dry foliage will be pushed off by the propulsion of new buds; but this last change is not effected in them, until they have absorbed the light and dews of heaven for the nourishment of the plant that bore them; and when even they shall have fallen to the earth, they will farther supply its spreading roots with fresh soil for its future growth and healthy developement; and entering into new combinations, will re-appear in the same tree under fresh forms of usefulness and symmetry. In like manner, chemical theories are but for a season; they are nothing more than general expressions of known facts; they may delight by their ingenuity, as vegetable forms captivate by their beauty, but their real and substantial use is to extend science; and as facts accumulate under their operation, they must give way to others better adapted to the increased growth and expansion of knowledge; nor does the utility of theories cease with their rejection,—they afford objects of analogy and comparison which assist the philosopher in his progress to truth, while their elements furnish materials for future arrangements. Were it otherwise, we should behold science in its advancement as a shapeless mass, enlarging by constant appositions, but without a single sign of growth or inward sympathy.