CHAPTER III. His reception as a Lecturer at the Royal Institution-Circumstances favouring his success-His manner as a Lecturer-As an ExperimenterHis Habits at this time, and manner of living-Notice of his principal Scientific Labours and Discoveries between 1801 and 1807-Dangerous Illness in 1807-Lines written after his Recovery-Farther Notice of his Labours and Discoveries, from 1807 to 1812-Circumstances of his Personal History-His Marriage in 1812, and Relinquishment of the Professorship of Chemistry at the Royal Institution-Extracts from his Note-Book in Verse and Prose, whilst at the Institution. THE duties upon which he entered at the Royal Institution were those of assistant lecturer on chemistry, and director of the laboratory; but, according to the terms on which he accepted the situation, this was merely a temporary arrangement, and to last only till he had prepared himself for filling the higher appointment of professor of chemistry. In a letter to his mother, the last referred to, after specifying the conditions, he says, "I hope to be able to undertake the professorship next year;" and the next year he did undertake it. On the 31st of May, 1802, he was formally appointed to this office by a resolution of the managers. In the spring of 1801, six weeks after his arrival, he gave his first lecture. I shall transcribe an account of it from the Philosophical Magazine, a contemporary journal. Under the head of the "Royal Institution of Great Britain," the editor remarks,— "It must give great pleasure to our readers to learn that this new and useful institution, the object of which is the application of science to the common purposes of life, may be now considered as settled on a firm basis. The lectures of Dr. Garnet have been such as do equal honour to the institution and the professor, and have been well attended. "We have also to notice a course of lectures just commenced at the institution, on a new branch of philosophy; we mean the galvanic phenomena: on this interesting branch Mr. Davy (late of Bristol) gave the first lecture on the 25th of April. He began with the history of galvanism; detailed the successive discoveries, and described the different methods of accumulating galvanic influence. # "Sir Joseph Banks, Count Rumford, and other distinguished philosophers, were present. The audience were highly gratified, and testified their satisfaction by general applause. Mr. Davy, who appears to be very young, acquitted himself admirably well. From the sparkling intelligence of his eye, his animated manner, and the tout ensemble, we have no doubt of his attaining distinguished excellence."* "The sensation created by his first course of lectures at the Institution," says Mr. Purkis, " and the enthusiastic admiration which they obtained, is at this period hardly to be imagined. Men of the first rank and talent,—the literary and the scientific, the practical and the theoretical, -blue-stockings and women of fashion, the old and the young, all crowded, eagerly crowded the lecture-room. His youth, his simplicity, his natural eloquence, his chemical knowledge, his happy illustrations and well-conducted experiments, *Phil. Magazine, No. xxxv. p. 281. excited universal attention and unbounded applause. Compliments, invitations, and presents were showered upon him in abundance from all quarters; his society was courted by all, and all appeared proud of his acquaintance." Independent of" his youth, his simplicity, his natural eloquence, his happy illustrations, and well-conducted experiments," his instant and great success as a lecturer was owing in part to circumstances of an auspicious kind, connected with the Institution, the period, and the state of science at the time. The Royal Institution was a new experiment. Novelty in itself is delightful, especially to people of rank and fortune, who at that time, in consequence of the Continent's being closed, owing to the war, must have been delighted to have had opened to them a new and unexpected source of interest, fitted to amuse those who were suffering from ennui, and to instruct those who were anxious for instruction. The Royal Institution, moreover, was the creation of a large number of influential persons, both in the higher ranks of society and of science. This alone might have sufficed to render it fashionable, and, if fashionable, popular. The period, morally and politically considered, aided the effect: a time of great political excitement had just terminated; a time of gloom and despondency was then commencing. Whatever diverted the public mind, and afforded new objects of contemplation, pure and independent sources of amusement and gratification, must have been very welcome to all reflecting persons, even without taking into account the possible and probable good which might be conferred by the Institution on society, in accordance with the intentions with which it was first established: and the state of science generally, and especially of chemical science, was, perhaps, the most auspicious circumstance of all. It had passed the stage of feeble infancy; it was just entering on that of vigorous youth; it was sufficiently advanced to display much beauty, and to excite deep interest ; and it was not too much advanced to be beyond the comprehension of minds of ordinary powers devoting to it a moderate portion of time. Besides, chemistry had just then begun to form connections, which immediately enhanced its value and attractions, particularly with mineralogy and geology, with vegetable and animal physiology, and with the useful arts of life. It had served to explain the formation of basalt and of marble; and it was confidently expected that it would throw much light on the structure and formation of our globe generally. It had elucidated one function of animals the important one of respiration; and it was hoped that it might be extended, in a similar manner, to the other functions of animal and vegetable life. It had afforded a rational theory for many of the arts, and had contributed to improve many of them: the steam-engine it had perfected; the balloon and diving-bell were essentially chemical inventions: there appeared no limits to the extension of its usefulness. Lastly, I may allude to its connection with imponderable substances, as with light, heat, electricity, and especially that form of electricity which had just then been discovered, and to the study of which he had already devoted himself-galvanism, which, more than all the rest, was destined to increase the interests and extend the dominions of chemistry, and enlarge the circle of human knowledge; and which, duly appreciating its fitness to excite interest,-both on account of its importance and novelty, he selected as the subject of his first course of lectures. In my former publication, in illustration of his powers, as a lecturer, I submitted from the MS. in my possession selected specimens of his lectures; first, as showing his power of exciting the interest of a mixed audience; secondly, the facility, it may be said felicity, with which he inculcated philosophical doctrines, the philosophy of science and the methods of scientific research; thirdly, how he added to the interest of his subject, and enforced the doctrines by biographical notices, in giving which he was most generous of praise, and as sparing of censure, as if he had considered the illustrious scientific men who had preceded him, in the light of parents, to whom a debt of gratitude as from a son to a father, was owing, and a tender respect;-and lastly, how, in his manner of treating the sciences which he taught, he blended the new with the old,—and by transferring the results of the laboratory to the theatre, in all their freshness, he imparted constantly to his lectures much of the charm and vigour of original discourses, by which means, even when addressing a popular audience, he was enabled to fix the attention even of the philosopher and man of science. In further illustration, I shall make a few remarks, conveying the impression which they have left on my mind, and recording the manner in which they were conducted. He was always in earnest; and when he amused most, amusement appeared most foreign to his object. His great and first object was to instruct, and, in conjunction with this, maintain the importance and dignity of science; indeed, the latter, and the kindling a taste for scientific pursuits, might rather be considered |