MEMOIRS OF SIR HUM PHRY DAVY, BY HIS

BROTHER.

So far as the means of judging exist, it may truly be said, that if a genius ever lived, Sir IltimeneY Davy was the man. In the case t f others, we can see or we can fancy the means by which the mind was formed and directed; how it was influenced by cir- cumstances, how it was trained by study, and the pabulum on which it fed. We know that NAPOLEON was brought up to war from his very childhood ; and in the pages of SCOTT and of LEE, more especially of the latter, the causes of his advancement are laid open ; and what at a superficial glance appeared to be mira- culous, turns out on examination to be nothing more than ability and education profiting by circumstances. From the life and works of MILTON we learn the manner in which the materials for Paradise Lost were garnered ; and the course by which a mind was formed for its production, of whose youthful tasks it has been ob- served, that whether imposed or spontaneous, whether " in English or in other tongue, prosing or versing, but chiefly this latter, the style, by certain vital signs it bad, was likely to live." A greater obscurity hangs over the career of SIIAKSPEARE; but we know, at all events, that he mixed in various society, that he had to struggle with difficulties, if not with distress ; and that he gradually emancipated himself from the chains of fashion and custom, as may be found by any one who compares his earlier with his later works—his Venus and Adonis with Macbeth. But DAVY seems to have been an intuitive discoverer. At the country schools of Penzance his mind displayed no peculiar bias; and, ac- cording to his brother, he left the last academy with the character "of a clever boy but no prodigy, whose best exercises were trans- lations from the classics into English verse." In the time that inter- vened between the close of his school-days and his apprenticeship to a country apothecary, lie chiefly occupied himself in shooting, fish- ing, and rustic pursuits ; studying, Dr. DAVY supposes, by "fits and starts," but without any evidence for his supposition. When he first entered on his medical career, in the course of study which he chalked out for himself, chemistry is merely classed with other sciences relating to " My Profession," and ranked last in the list. Nor does lie seem to have thought of it at first. Like most powerful minds, his " was alway s investigating, always aspiring; in its widest searches still longing to go forward, in its highest flights still wishing to be higher; always imagining something greater than it knows, always endeavouring more than it can do." He wrote essays and published poetry ; he planned poems and prose works on a grand scale ; he studied mathematics and meta- physics ; he reasoned himself into materialism, if not infidelity; in a few months he returned to immateriality, and retained ever after an undue, and it seems to us an unphilosophical, contempt and hatred for materialists and their belief. Besides this, he also appears in the first two years of his apprenticeship to have studied the theory and practice of medicine, compounding doses, per- forming small operations, and doing the general business of the dispensary with credit to himself and satisfaction to Mr. BOR LASE. It was not till his nineteenth year (the close of 1797) that he took to chemistry. By the following April, lie appears to have solicited a correspondence with Dr. BEDDOES relative to his hypothesis on Light and Heat; seemingly prompted, like GIBBON on a similar occasion, by his " thirst for improvement, asd the languid state of science" at Penzance. A few months after, Dr. BEDDOES offered him the situation of superintendent of the Pneumatic Institution, which had been established at Clifton for the purpose of trying the medicinal effects of different gases. Mr. BORLASE, as by en- dorsement on the back of the indenture, 1st October 1798, re- leased him from "all engagements whatever, on account of his excellent behaviour; and because, being a youth of great promise, (he) would not obstruct his present pursuits, which are likely to promote his fortune and his fame." The next day he started for Clif on. In a few months more he published his Essays on Heat and Light; which established his reputation as an original in- quirer. In a very few years (1801), his growing; fame procured him the office of Lecturer at the Royal Institution ; and his sub- sequent career was distinguished by a series of the most brilliant and important discoveries, and by an influence abroad and a po- pularity at home which far surpassed that of any other scientific character of the day. All this is extraordinary, whether we consider the rapidity of the discoveries or the apparent instinctive manner in which they were made. Still, the material and tangible nature of the science and the character of DAVY may resolve some of the mystery. In purely intellectual pursuits, a life is exhausted in completing a • - The Reason of Church Government urged against Prelacy." Preface to Book I. (Fletcher's Edition of Milton's Prase Works, page 43.) portion of the 'plans of youth : fir the materials of which tbey must be formed cannot be found at will,—if they were, they each not be mastered ; and the mind must be disciplined by long exer- cise ere it can give effect to its own conceptions. The learning necessary for the Decline and Fall, the facts and thoughts in the Wealth of Nations, the varied knowledge of man and nature essential to the production of the Iliad, could neither be got rapidly nor digested hastily. But when a chemist has formed a theory, the materials for experiment are mostly at hand. A man who in the highest departments of literature should determine to compose double or treble the usual amount in a given time, might find that the quality of his production did not keep pace with its quantity. In the more mechanical investiga- tions of science, this remark will not apply to the same extent. Much of laboratorial work, in the first place, may be delegated to others ; and he who has energy and quickness to try repeated ex- periments, advances in proportion to their number. Hence the extraordinary perseverance, energy, and activity of atilt in the laboratory, which Dr. PARIS so graphically notices, and which seems to have excited the astonishment of most who witnessed it, may account in some measure for the number and rapidity of his discoveries.

But whilst speculating about the character of DAVY and the respective differences of literature and science, we have nearly lost sight of his brother's hook ; which was undertaken, the author tells us, partly on account of the value of the manuscript materials in his possession, partly to remove the injurious impression which the work of Dr. PARIS conveys as to the character of his brother, " not indeed as a man of science and an original inquirer, but as a man and a philosopher." The sources of its materials are, first, the Life by Dr. PARIS ; second, Sir HUMPHRY DAVY's pub- 'Nile(' Works ; third, the Remembrances of the author; fourth, the Manuscripts Su' HUMPHRY left behind in the possession of his family. Little need be said of the character of the matter under the first and second heads. Where the parts drawn from Dr. PARIS'S book are not mere quotations, taken for the purpose of telling what the first biographer knew more about than the second, they are of course controversial : but, in spite of Dr. DAVY'S ut- most efforts, the passages impugned are of small importance, and the objections chiefly apply to the manner of stating things—in fact, to treating a joke as a joke. Without passing any opinion as to the motive which induced Dr. DAVY to draw so largely upon his brother's printed Works, we must be allowed to say that they have neither a fitness nor an interest proportioned to their fre- quency and length ; their introduction, too, being managed with such want of judgment that the scientific passages will be scarcely intelligible to the general reader, whilst they are of course unne- cessary to the chemist. The Remembrances have more value and novelty, although not so much as the near relationship of the party might lead one to expect. The author himself was so much younger than his eminent brother, that he has no recollections of him when at Penzance. The direct personal reminiscences embrace a period of about three continuous years (1808 to 1811), during which Dr. DAVY was his brother's assistant at the Royal Institution; some occasional meetings in subsequent years, but few in numbersfroas the Doctor's professional engagements as an army surgeon; and a long but not an unbroken attendance upon the philosopher during his last two journies to the Continent, when he went (in his own words) to "fight against sickness and fate," and to fall in the un- equal contest. Throughout all the passages, relating to these times, Dr. DAVY exhibits but little poster as a voter of character or man- ners. His anecdotes are few, and not very striking ; his descriptions heavy, and overlaid with unessential particulars; but they are dis- tinct, and in their matter not without interest, especially in his ac- count of his brother's illness and death. The extracts from the manu- scripts and letters are very various, and extend over a long period of time,—commencing, in fact, with a school theme, and not ter- minating till within some months of the writer's death. When we know what work some men of far greater literary pretension than Dr. DAVY have made with biography, it is not surprising that he is perpetually conceiving that what has been written by a man must have a necessary relation to his life, and that be draws very largely upon his brother's note-books, without throwing much light upon his personal character, feelings, or circumstances. These extracts,

however, are the most valuable parts of the volumes. The pas- sages descriptive of his various travels in Ireland, and in Northern and Southern Europe, may be read with pleasure ; his sketches of eminent men, and his remarks on contemporary events, are pithy and striking ; the quotations from his early commonplace- books arc curious specimens of his youthful writings; and some of these, and of the latest journals descriptive of his expectation of

death, but his resolute determination to keep the enemy at bay as long as possible, are biographical in their impressions if not in

their form.

Of Dr. DAVY'S book as a life, it must have been guessed that no very lofty character can be given. His arrangement is neither chronological nor natural ; lie has neither art nor order. His awkward attempts to separate the personal and sciestile chai ratters of Sir HUMPHRY DAVY, induce a confusion w( rse con- founded : the reader is carried backwards and forwards without relief or resting-place, till, unless very watchful, he is even bewildered as to the order of time. The narrative is as bad as the plan; constantly impeded by remarks or controversies, or broken in upon by the extracts already alluded to,—which, whether good or bad, new or old, are out of place where they appear Th•

-4 value of the book is for the new materials it contains; but these would have appeared to more advantage in a small-sized volume than in two bulky octavos of more than 900 pages.

In selecting extracts, we shall follow the example of the book, and choose passages without much relation to order, now taking something from the Life, now from the Opinions, and now from the Writings of Sir HUMPHRY DAVY. Here is the scheme of study already alluded to,-and a pretty extensive one it is. It was drawn up by young DAVY at the beginning of his maiden common- place-book, bearing date the first year of his apprenticeship, 1795.

1. Theology. Or Religion, taught by Nature. Ethics, or moral virtues, by Revelation.

2. Geography. U. My Profession. 5. Language. I. Botany. 1. English. 2. Pharmacy. 2. French.

3. Nosology. 3. Latin.

4. Anatomy. 4. Greek. 5. Surgery. 5. Italian. 6. Chemistry. 6. Spanish. 4. Logic. 7. Hebrew. 6. Physics.

1. The doctrines and properties of natural bodies.

2. Of the operations of nature.

3. Of the doctrines of fluid,.

4. Of the properties of organized matter. 5. Of the organization of matter. 6. Simple Astronomy. 7. Mechanics.

8. Rhetoric and Oratory.

• SIR IIUMPIIRY AS A LECTURER.

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 con- sidered his main object, and the conveying instruction a secondary one. His lectures were almost invariably written expressly for the occasion, not a repeti- tion of lectures ; so that the same audience, vear after year, might attend, and never be wearied. He commonly wrote his lecture the day before he delivered it. On this day he generally dined in his own room, and made a light meal on fish. He was always master of his subject, and composed with great rapidity, and with a security of his powers never failing him. Latterly, lie trusted a good deal to notes ; and, excepting on particular occasions, wrote little more than the carts which he wished to make most impressive, especially the beginning and termination. It was almost an invariable rule with him, the evening be- fore, to rehearse his lecture in the presence of his assistants, the preparations having been made and every thing in readiness for the experiments; and this he did, not only with a view to the success of the experiments and the dexterity of his assistants, but also in regard to his own discourse, the effect of which, he knew, depended upon the manner in which it was delivered. He used. I re-

msmber, at this recital, to mark the words which required emphasis, and study the effect of intonation ; often repeating a passage two or three different times, to witness the difference of effect of variations in the voice.

9. History and Chronology. 10. Mathematics.

BACHELOR DAvY.

Of my brother's mode of living, and of some of his habits whilst he was at the Royal Institution, I shall speak from my own knowledge. As long as he was a bachelor, lie was perfectly satisfied with his rooms at the Institution ; in which he considered chiefly utility, and thought little of comfort, and much less of luxury. He showed great carelessness in all that related to their furni- ture and appearance. These were to him matter of indifference. I believe the furniture was merely what belonged to them when he first took possession, and that he made no addition to them or alteration. The only thing ornamental that I recollect in his sitting-room, was an elegant little porcelain Venus, which was a present to him from his early friend Mr. 'Wedgewood ; it was of his manufacture, and an admirable specimen of art. Letters and papers lie very seldom arranged, and his rooms were commonly littered with them. Occasion- ally they were collected and thrown together in a large cupboard. I remember once his commissioning me to look over this great collection, and to burn such .as appeared of no interest. Amongst them were very many letters of the highest compliment, and some of kind advice from anonymous writers or declared friends, pointing out, on his commencing lecturing at the Institution, what was considered faulty in his manner and even in his pronunciation ; but they were most commonly of a laudatory kind,-Land of this kind were several copies of

i verses, written in female hands, showing that he had excited no ordinary inte- rest in their breasts, and that their admiration was of a very exalted kind.

LONDON RELAXATION.

If confined in London longer than usual, and depicts' of his favourite amuse- ment of angling, he not unfrcqueutly, as a relaxation, would turn to his fishing- tackle, and look over his fly -book, and assort the gaudy materials for making flies ; and I very well recollect the effect on his mind was always refreshing.

The opinions which DAVY held upon the power of NAPOLEON, .evince Ins general sagacity. Whilst MAcKiwrosir, and many others calling thetuselves statesmen and philosophers, were filled with the most exaggerated terrors and the most fantastic notions, the chemical lecturer could write as follows- " The times seem to me to he less dangerous, as to the immediate state of this country, than they were four years ago. The extension of the French empire has weakened the disposable force of France. Bonaparte seems to have abandoned the idea of invasion : if our Government is active, we have little to dread from a maritime war, at least for sonic time. Sooner or later, our colo- nial empire must fall in due time, when it has answered its ends. The wealth of our island must be diminished, but the strength of mind of the people cannot easily pass away ; and our literature, our science, our arts, and the dignity of our nature, depend little upon external relations. When we had fewer colonies than Genoa, we had Bacons and Shakspeares.

" The wealth and prosperity of the country are only the comeliness of the body-the fulness of the flesh and fat; but the spirit is independent of them : it requires only muscle, bone, and nerve, for the true exercise of its functions. We cannot lose our liberty, because we cannot cease to think ; and ten millions of-people are not easily annihilated."

A DIVINE DINER-OUT.

" There is scarcely a more dangerous propensity than that of attempting uni- versal literature ; of being able to criticize all modern books. It increases the memory at the expense of the reason ; it supplies the graces of conversation, without the labour of thought. When I peruse some of the descriptions of ancient Athens and Rome, I am forcibly reminded of some of the societies of modern London. I seem to see the parasite clothed in the robes of the moralist, the affable jester concealed under the gown of the sacred minister of religion. I see men renouncing the dignity of eksrm and the greatness of reputation. It was then that the parasite and tft `-ir assumed those robes which were worn by the moralist, the minister of religion, and the philosopher, and prostituted talents that might have been employed to noble purposes, with the hopes of gaining a smile from the idle and the vicious and a murmur of applause from the great and luxurious."

BENEFIT OF MACHINERY.

" There is this immense benefit in machinery, that it carries on those opera- tions which debase the mind and injure the faculties. A man, by constantly performing the same operations, becomes unfit for any other. Machinery re- quires attention, intellectual exertion, and bodily labour of various kinds."

ILLUSTRIOUS FRENCHMEN OF SCIENCE.

Vauquelin was in the decline of life when I first saw bins in 1813-a man who gave me the idea of the French chemists of another age ; belonging rather to the pharmaceutical laboratory than to the philosophical one : yet he lived in the Jardin du RM. Nothing could be more singular than his manners, his life, and his nit page. Two old maiden ladies, the Mademoiselles de Fourcroy, sisters of the professor of that name, kept his house. I remember the first time that I entered it, I was ushered into a sort of bedchamber, which likewise served as a drawing-room. One of these ladies was in lied, but em- ployed in preparations for the kitchen ,• and was actually paring truffles. Van» quelin wished some immediately to be dressed for nay breakfast, and I had some difficulty to prevent it. Nothin' could be more extraordinary than the sim- plicity of his conversation; he had not the slightest tact, and, even in the pre- scrim of young ladies talked of subjects which, since the paradisaical times, never have been the objects of common conversation."

" Ouvier had even in his address and manner the character of a superior man ; much general power and eloquence in conversation, and a great variety of information on scientific as well as popular subjects. I should say of him, that he is the most distinguished man of talents I have known ; but I doubt if lie is entitled to the appellation of a man of genius."

" De Humboldt was one of the most agreeable men I have ever known ; social, modest, full of intelligence, with facilities of every kind : almost too fluent in conversation. His travels display his spirit of enterprise. His works are monuments of the variety of his knowledge and resources."

" Gay Lussac was quick, lively, ingenious, and protbuud, with great activity of mind, and great facility of manipulation. I should place him at the head of the living chemists of France."

slit HUMPHRY'S TASTES.

He was convivial in his habits, and curious in the qualities of meats and wines ; yet in the latter be was temperate. He preferred the lighter kinds, the French, and very rarely indeed committed any excess in their use. Dr unken-. ness he considered a disgusting condition, and I never saw him in it. If I re- collect rightly, he told lie had been only once drunk, and that was when a very young man. Iu dress he was rather careless, especially latterly ; consulting more health and comfort than fashion and appearance. Before the present undress of gen- tlemen came into vogue, after the termination of the war, short breeches, black silk stockings, a blue coat, and a white waistcoat, and white neckcloth-the common costume of the time-was his usual attire ; but lie retained it no longer than it was common. his was fond of broad-brimmed bats, as they afforded protection from the sun and rain, and he generally wore one in travelling. I remember his wearing one of very moderate dimensions when he came to Edin- burgh in 1811, soon after his marriage, at the time I was studying there ; and in walking through l'rinces Street it attracted the impertinent notice and re- mark of some young men who were following us. At that time there was so little intercourse with foreigners, and dress was so uniform, that any small in- novation was considered a great peculiarity.

The passages relating to DAVY'S decline are affecting, but would produce a far greater effect had they not been overlaid by extraneous matter. After his first attack, he went abroad, as is well known, in order to avoid the excitement to which society, if not study, would have inevitably exposed him in England. He went, too, with a consciousness of his danger, and an expectation of death; and for a considerable part of the time, he was alone- Ins only companions his servants-his only amusements his gun, his rod, and his pen, when well enough to use them. Under these circumstances, there is something very touching in such passages as the following.

"22d. Baden.-A fine day ; but whether loitering disagrees with me, er from what other cause, I am, snide miscrabilis, worse as to sensations than since I have left Lavbach. The scenery in the beginning of its autumnal tints is very beautiful ; and for a person well, or becoming convalescent, it would be a beautiful place, and an agreeable residence : but I fear my light of life is burnt out, and that there remains nothing but stink and smoke and dying snuff. • •

" 25th. Spiers. -Decidedly worse ; applied sixteen leeches and a blister to the nape of the neck. Decidedly worse, and have decided to go home imme- diately; the old pain, and more severe in the region of the heart ; yet I ate yesterday only the breast of a partridge, with a little pike ; to-day have eaten only a little chicken-broth, and shall fast for two or three days : pulse nearly 100. * • *

27th. St. Goar.-A very beautiful and glorious evening. I thought I was going to be quite well, as the weakness of the left wrist, which put an end to my shooting at Spiess, is quite gone ; but I found my stiff leg as bad as ever. Yet I can hardly be lower or live lower. Dubito furtissime restaurationem

meum.•

"As I have so often alluded to the possibility of my dying suddenly, I think it right to mention that I aw too intense a believer in the Supreme Intelligence, and have too strong a faith in the optimism of the system of the universe, ever to accelerate my dissolution. The laurel-water, therefore, which I have carried about with me, and used constantly, and from which I have decidedly derived benefit, is a prescription of Toniasini's ; and the laudanum and opium which are in my dressing-case, but which I have never used, were recommended to me in small doses to remove irritation, taken with purgatives. I have been, and am, taking a care of my health which I fear it is not worth ; but which, hoping it may please Providence to preserve me for wise purposes, I think my

duty."

This is singular-

At night he would not allow me to remain in his room, not even on a couch, as I have done before. Ile was sure be should die that night. He took leave of me most tenderly, kissed my cheek, and bade God bless me! His mind was tranquil, even as much so as on my arrival ; but his symptoms were of a very different character ; and witnessing the sudden changes which had taken place during the slay, I believed that now indeed I was about to lose him, and that I should never again hear his voice of kindness. During the night, when

I went into his room, I hail the satisfaction to hear him breathing ; and the reports of his servant, who bad a bed in his room, when he came to me, were

• Sic in Dr. Derv.

not unfavourable. The foil ,wing morning, when I Kent to him and drew hack Lie curtains, he expressed great astonishment at being alive. He said he had gone through the whole process of trying; and that when he awoke he had dif- Sculty in convincing himself that he was in earthly existence, and that he was under the necessity of making certain experiments to satisfy his mind that he was still in the body—as by raising the hand and intercepting the light, lifting the bed-clothes, closing the eyelids, &c. He added, that his being alive was quite miraculous ; and he now began to think his recovery not impossible, and that it might be intended by Divine Providence that his life should be prolonged for purposes of usefulness.

This expectation was fallacious. He however rallied, and lin- gered for two months longer ; dying at Geneva, on the 29th May 1829. The disorder which terminated his life was paralysis, but its exact nature was unknown. It was Dr. DAVY'S wish to have bad a post modem examination ; but this was contrary to Sir Humanity's desire. He entertained a dread if it, founded on an idea that " it was possible for sensation to remain in the animal fibre after the loss of irritability and the power of giving proof to others of its existence." Ile had also the more reasonable dread of being buried alive " before animation was completely extinct ;" and lie desired that his interment should not take place till after ten days. At Geneva, compliance with this was impossible, on account of the law. As an indulgence, Dr. DAVY procured tho extension of the time till three days; when signs of putrefaction appearing, the last duty was performed for the most illustrious philosopher of modern times.