Icruited to a certain extent, but remained so uncertain that he was obliged to resign the chair of the Royal society. Having received his resignation, the society on the 6th of November, 1827, appointed Mr Davies Gilbert president pro tempore, in his stead. In October, 1827, he returned to London in very poor health; and made an attempt, in a visit to the country, to enjoy his field sports, but without success. In the spring of 1828 he published his Salmonia, or days of Fly-fishing,' a book which can only be compared to that of Izaak Walton.

6

It

is full of elegant and exalted sentiments, and cannot be read without pleasure.

On the 20th of March, a paper of his was read before the Royal society, On the Phenomena of Volcanos;' it is full of interest but not peculiarly successful.

Soon after this he left Engiand for the last time. After spending some time in Austria, he went to Rome, where he became alarmingly ill.

He desired, however, to be removed to Geneva, where he arrived on the 28th of May, only to die; for though he appeared unusually well, he did not survive above 12 hours. In his last moments he was attended by Lady Davy, his brother, and his godson Mr Tobin. Every honour was paid to his remains by the authorities and the learned in Geneva, where, according to his own desire, he was buried. A tablet, which was placed by his widow in Westminster Abbey, is as yet the only monument which records his memory. He has left no children to inherit his name.

There remains to us now the difficult task of examining the character and merits of Sir Humphry Davy. His genius was of a high order. It is seldom that we see in one individual such a versatility of talent as he exhibited. Poetry, science, and philosophy were alike familiar to him, and sources of refined enjoyment. In the course of the foregoing description we have treated upon all his works except one, published after his death. This is entitled Consolations in Travel, or the last days of a Philosopher.' As our limits do not admit of an extended criticism, we shall be content with saying in the words of Dr Paris, "This is a most extraordinary and interesting work: extraordinary, not only from the wild extent of its fancy, but from the bright light of scientific truth which is constantly shining through its metaphorical tissue, and irradiating its most shadowy imaginings."

The mind of Davy was of a most aspiring nature. His imagination always went before his powers of investigation, yet he seldom erred. His perception of truth seemed almost intuitive, and before another could perceive the relations of the premises, he would often arrive at the conclusion. Of his ingenuity and industry we have already had sufficient evidence. His attachments were strong, but in forming them he was sometimes capricious. Perhaps no avenue to his heart was more open than that which admitted a brother of the angle. Was this love for angling a weakness? It is difficult to say; but when regarded as but a part of that passionate admiration of the beauties of nature which characterized him, it becomes important from the noble association. It is to be lamented that a want of polish in his manners rendered him disagreeable to many, and proved the cause of much of his unpopularity. We referred to this subject in speaking of his visit to Paris. Adulation soon changed his original simplicity of character,

and (in the words of Dr Paris) "when Davy sighed for patrician distinction in the chair of Newton, we can only lament the weakness from which the choicest spirits of our nature are not exempt." Yet his love for science was not tainted by a desire for making it a source of wealth. He might have amassed a fortune, but he preferred to be crowned with honours, no small part of which was that the services which they rewarded were unpaid for.

The last subject which claims our attention is the important question: How much does science owe to Davy? Perhaps this is superfluous; for as we have gone along we have shown the relation which his discoveries bear to what had gone before, yet a slight sketch of them in connection will not be without its advantages. However much praise be due to Sir Humphry Davy, it must not be forgotten that the honour of being reformer of chemical science is much divided, and that the state of the science at the period at which he began to take a share in it, was such as to afford to him facilities infinitely above those possessed by his predecessors. It is impossible for us to form an estimate of the comparative value of his discoveries without taking a general view of the progress of chemical science. In the seventeenth century chemistry had begun to emerge from the trammels of alchemy. The first attempt at a regular theory was that of Beecher, afterwards remodelled by Stahl. This rude system was founded upon the supposition that a substance called phlogiston entered into the composition of all combustible bodies, the elimination of which constituted combustion, which process was supposed to leave the germ of the body in a pure state, in which it was called a calx. A few careful experiments would have overturned this theory, but the experiments of the day were very imperfectly conducted. The modern system of experimental chemistry owes its origin to a later period, and to the researches of Schule, Black, Cavendish, and Priestley. To them pneumatic chemistry owes much, and in general we may say that they discovered new substances, investigated combinations which had before not been understood, and rendered more perfect the art of chemical analysis. It was but a short step further that led Lavoisier to make those experiments by which the existence of phlogiston was shown to be merely imaginary, and to establish the relation of oxygen to acids, combustion, and metallic oxids. Such was the state of chemistry when the career of Davy began. The science was free from the grosser errors, but had fallen into others, by carrying refinement and generalization too far, while experiment had not yet accumulated a sufficient store of facts. Davy discovered that acids might be formed and that combustion might take place without oxygen; and that other substances might enter into combination with metals, producing compounds analogous to the oxides. He discovered that not only acids, but alcalies might be the result of metallic combinations with oxygen; he enriched the different branches of the science with numerous lesser discoveries; and finally, he was the author of the electro-chemical theory, of which we have already spoken. Taken together he has made more numerous and more brilliant discoveries than any other chemist, but it must not be forgotten that the labours of the illustrious men who preceded him had accumulated many of those facts, by reflecting on which his master mind saw the light of

a scientific system, where little had been seen before but a chaos of unconnected facts.

In conclusion, we must acknowledge ourselves indebted to the work of Dr Paris for the greater part of our information, other authorities have been referred to en passant. For a more extended view of the relation of the discoveries of Davy to the present state of chemistry reference must be made to Dr Thomson's excellent history of chemistry.

Sir James Edward Smith.

BORN A. D. 1759.-DIED A. D. 1828.

SIR JAMES EDWARD SMITH was born in the city of Norwich, December 2d, 1759. He was the eldest of seven children, and for almost five years an only child. His father, Mr James Smith, was a dealer in the woollen trade, of respectable connexions and easy in his circumstances, and of a naturally strong understanding, much cultivated and enlarged by reading, and a habit of thinking for himself on all subjects. Sir James's mother, Frances Kinderly, was the daughter of a clergyman of an ancient and once opulent family in the north of England, remarkable for the sweetness of his temper and his eccentricities. On account of a constitutional delicacy of spirits, as well as of health, young Smith was never sent to a public school, but was attended at home by the best masters that his native city afforded, and under their tuition he acquired a competent knowledge of the French and Italian languages, and of the rudiments of Latin. But the best part of his education was derived from the society of his well informed sensible parents, and from reading and conversation in the domestic circle, by which the heart as well as the understanding was instructed and enlarged. Under these influences he grew up, and on the basis of extreme delicacy and sensitiveness of soul, by the aid of judicious culture and religious principle, a moral courage and a noble independence of character were reared, by which he became distinguished, in after life, almost as much as for his amiable and affectionate disposition.

Botany, "the amiable science," as it has been called, was the study for such a mind, and his early predilection for it, and the difficulties and encouragements he met with, are often mentioned in his writings. In one of his introductory lectures before the Royal institution, he observes: "From the earliest period of my recollection, when I can just remember tugging ineffectually with all my infant strength at the tough stalks of the wild succory on the chalky hillocks about Norwich, I have found the study of nature an increasing source of unalloyed pleasure, and a consolation and refuge under every pain. Long destined to other pursuits, and directed to other studies, thought more advantageous or necessary, I could often snatch but a few moments for this favourite object. Unassisted by advice, unacquainted with books, I wandered long in the dark; till some of the principal elementary works, the publications of Lee, Rose, Stillingfleet, and a few others, came in my way,. and were devoured over and over again. This kind of botanical education has the advantages of the necessary drudgery of a grammarschool; it trains the mind to labour, it fixes principles, and facts, and

terms, and names, never to be forgotten. At length, however, I found I wanted something more to apply to practice what had thus been acquired. I was then furnished with systematic books, and introduced to Mr Rose, whose writings had long been my guide. I was shown the works of Linnæus; nor shall I ever forget the feelings of wonder excited by finding his whole system of animals, vegetables, and minerals, comprised in three octavo volumes. I had seen a fine quarto vol

ume of Buffon, on the horse alone. I expected to find the systematical works of Linnæus constituting a whole library; but they proved almost capable of being put, like the Iliad, into a nutshell. Hence a new world was opened to me. I found myself, moreover, in the centre of a school of botanists. Ever since the Spanish tyranny and folly had driven commerce and ingenuity from Flanders, to take refuge in Britain, a taste for flowers had subsisted in my native county along with them. Our weavers, like those of Spitalfields, have from time immemorial been florists, and many of them most excellent cultivators; their necessary occupations and these amusements were peculiarly compatible. And it is well worthy of remark, that those elegant and virtuous dispositions, which can relish the beauties of nature, are no less strictly in unison with that purity of moral and religious taste which drove the founders of our worsted manufactory from foul and debasing tyranny to the abode of light, and peace, and liberty."

In the autumn of 1781, he repaired to Edinburgh to finish his education at the university, with a view to the study of medicine. Here he passed two years, and found warm and kind friends, as he did every where, and in friendship a pure enjoyment. His proficiency in other branches of knowledge appears to have been respectable only, but in his favourite science he soon distanced every competitor, and carried off all the honours.

From Edinburgh our young naturalist went up to London, still bent on pursuing and completing his medical studies, and anxious to avail himself, for this purpose, of the advantages to be derived from visiting the hospitals and attending the lectures of the celebrated Dr John Hunter. Here again he made many valuable acquaintances, and particularly, as might have been expected from his favourite tastes and pursuits, that of Sir Joseph Banks; to his connexion with whom, an incident is to be referred, which did more perhaps than all other causes put together, to shape his course and lay the foundation of his future eminence. We give it in the words of his biographer: "Upon the demise of young Linnæus, Dr Acrel, professor of medicine at Upsal, had written to Dr Engelhart, who was then in London, offering the whole collection of his books, manuscripts, and natural history, to Sir Joseph Banks, for the sum of 1000 guineas. 'It happened,' adds Sir James, that I breakfasted with Sir Joseph upon the day the letter arrived, which was the 23d of December, 1783; and he told me of the offer he had had, saying he should decline it; and, handing me the letter to read, advised me strongly to make the purchase, as a thing suitable to my taste, and which would do me honour.' Being thus encouraged by Sir Joseph, he went immediately to Dr Engelhart, with whom he had been intimately acquainted at Edinburgh, and made his desire known to him; and they both wrote the same day to Professor Acrel, Dr Engelhart to recommend his friend, and the other desiring

a catalogue of the whole collection, and telling him if it answered his expectations, he would be the purchaser at the price fixed." A writer in The Monthly Repository' says: "The sale was precipitated before the return of the king of Sweden, then on his travels, lest he should oblige the heirs to dispose of the whole, at a cheaper rate, to the university at Upsal. This would actually have been the case, as appears from the exertions made by his majesty, who, on his return, sent a courier to the Sound, and a swift sailing vessel to intercept the ship which was bearing away the prize." Higher offers had also been made, to tempt the heirs to break off the treaty, and, among the rest, an unlimited sum by a Russian nobleman; and Sir James appears to have owed it to the scrupulous honour of the negotiator, professor Acrel, that he succeeded at last in obtaining the inestimable treasure at the stipulated charge. The packages were safely landed at the custom-house in October, 1784. "Sir James's first idea," says his lady, "was to deposit his purchase in some spare rooms in the British museum; but he found some objections to the scheme, and preferred taking a house, that it might be safer, and more accessible to himself and his friends. He therefore hired apartments in Paradise-row, Chelsea, whither it was immediately conveyed; and often has he recurred with great pleasure to the first winter after its arrival, when, with Sir J. Banks and Mr Dryander, they examined the herbarium minutely, and carefully unpacked and arranged the whole collection. With no premeditated design of relinquishing physic as a profession, yet from this hour he devoted his time and all the powers of his mind to the object for which he had hazarded so much; nor was there ever a period, in his subsequent life, of misgiving or regret, that he had made a wrong choice; neither was his love of botany pursued to the exclusion of other literature or lighter pleasures; but it was the charm of his existence, always at hand ready to take up, always leading the mind forward and filling his hours with satisfaction."

On the 28th of May following. Sir James acquaints his father, that "he was admitted a fellow of the Royal society on Thursday, without a single black ball;" and adds, "I paid my money, £32 11s.; and took my seat the same evening: my success was indeed very flattering, and, I believe, gave my good friend the president-Sir Joseph Banksgreat pleasure."

In the summer of 1786 he visited the continent, his immediate object being to obtain a medical degree at Leyden. Having done this, he quitted Holland, and spent the rest of that year, and most of the next, in France, Switzerland, and Italy, making the natural history of those countries his principal study, but not neglecting other objects of attention likely to interest a traveller. His habits of careful observation, his taste in the fine arts, his enthusiasm in the description of Alpine scenery, his liberal feelings and opinions, in regard to national or sectarian differences, are as conspicuous in his private letters, written home to his friends, as in the sketch of his tour, published some time after his return.

Soon after his return to England, he removed from Chelsea to Great Marlborough street, professedly with a view to begin his medical career in London. Natural history, however, and botany in particular, continued to occupy his attention almost exclusively; and one of the next