The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction Volume 13 by Various
V >>
Various >> The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction Volume 13
[Illustration: PORTRAIT of the late SIR HUMPHRY DAVY, Bart.]
* * * * *
THE MIRROR OF LITERATURE, AMUSEMENT, AND INSTRUCTION:
CONTAINING
ORIGINAL ESSAYS; HISTORICAL NARRATIVES; BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS;
SKETCHES OF SOCIETY; TOPOGRAPHICAL DESCRIPTIONS;
NOVELS AND TALES; ANECDOTES;
SELECT EXTRACTS
FROM
NEW AND EXPENSIVE WORKS;
_POETRY, ORIGINAL AND SELECTED:_
THE SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS;
DISCOVERIES IN THE ARTS AND SCIENCES;
_USEFUL DOMESTIC HINTS;_
&c. &c. &c.
* * * * *
VOL. XIII.
* * * * *
LONDON
PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY J. LIMBIRD, 143, STRAND.
_(Near Somerset House.)_
1829
* * * * *
PREFACE.
* * * * *
We begin to think that a long Preface in this season of _ennui_ would be
almost as tiresome as tragedy in warm weather, and much more so than the
trite three-line Prologue in Hamlet. Our materials are collected from all
quarters, with but little of our own; so that we might praise all the
authors without the charge of uncommon vanity; but panegyric savours much
of the poppy, and we must use it accordingly.
Our thanks are first due to such Subscribers as have, by personal
observation and research, enabled us to throw a light on certain obsolete
customs or portions of our domestic history; for these contributions form
a prominent feature of the Correspondence of THE MIRROR; it being our
object, in this department, to gather facts rather than to draw only upon
the invention of our friends. In support of this system we could select
many specimens from the Correspondence of the present volume, the
interest of which is, we hope, be equal to any of its predecessors.
The _Selector_ will be found to contain many valuable extracts from New
and Costly Works, in almost every class of literature; and the piquancy
of the _Notes of a Reader_ may be turned to as a convenient little
treasury, into which readers of all tastes may dip with pleasure and
advantage.
The _Sketch Book_ contains rather an unusual number of Narratives, some
of them of extraordinary interest, and written in the best style of the
best authors.
The _Spirit of Discovery_ will be considered characteristic of our times,
by illustrating the real economy of science in its application to the
conveniences of every-day life. As a collateral branch of this division
is _The Naturalist,_ under which head we have endeavoured to identify THE
MIRROR with Zoology, as one of the most popular studies of the day.
The _Spirit of the Public Journals_ breathes not a few of the sweetest
and most recent poetical compositions from the pens of celebrated authors,
some of whose names are passports to high excellence.
The _Engravings_ have, probably, been criticised upon first impression;
so that we can only hope they have merited the applause of our
Subscribers. We may be permitted to remark that some of the illustrations
relate to scenes and subjects of no ordinary attraction in Antiquarian
Remains, and Architectural Improvements of yesterday; a few of these have
been executed at a considerable cost to the Proprietor; for which extra
exertion he has been more than requited by the increased demand.
Several current _Novelties_ will be found described at length in this
volume--as the circumstantial and accurate accounts of the Colosseum--and
the New Swan River Settlement, the last of which is illustrated with an
Engraved Chart.
Strenuous as have been our exertions for past patronage, we shall not
relax in the ensuing volume. An entirely new Type has been prepared for
this purpose, and we feel confident that we shall be enabled to keep pace
with the increased typographical beauty of the MIRROR, as well as with
the improved spirit of its Engravings.
June 27, 1829.
* * * * *
LIST OF ENGRAVINGS.
VOL. XIII.
_PORTRAIT of the late SIR HUMPHRY DAVY, Bart._
Bruce Castle, Tottenham.
Old Elephant, Fenchurch Street.
Macclesfield Bridge, Regent's Park.
Rupert's Palace, Barbican.
Hanover Lodge, Regent's Park.
Grove House, ditto.
Colosseum, Exterior, ditto.
Marquess of Hertford's Villa, ditto.
Doric Villa, ditto.
Colosseum, Interior, ditto.
Kirkstall Abbey.
Warwick Castle.
Old Covent Garden Market.
York Terrace, Regent's Park.
Snow Flakes, Magnified.
Rugby School.
Miners of Derbyshire.
Fortune Playhouse, Barbican.
Epsom New Race Stand.
Old Charing Cross.
Exeter 'Change, Strand.
Hyde Park Grand Entrance.
Talipot Tree.
Glowworm.
Deathwatch, Magnified.
Chester Terrace, Regent's Park.
Guy's Cliff.
Roman Altar.
Gower's Tomb.
Hirlas Horn.
Old Somerset House.
Harrow School.
Sussex Place, Regent's Park.
Clarendon House, Piccadilly.
Relic of John Buryan.
Cornwall Terrace, Regent's Park.
Chart of the Swan River Settlement.
Laleham Park, the Residence of the Young Queen of Portugal.
Holland House, Kensington.
Cumberland Terrace, Regent's Park.
Residence of T. Campbell, Esq.
Labyrinth at Versailles.
* * * * *
MEMOIR OF SIR HUMPHRY DAVY, BART.
The present may be regarded as a chemical age; for so extensive, rapid,
and important have been the late acquisitions in the science of chemistry,
that we may almost claim it as the exclusive discovery of our own times.
The popularity and high estimation in which it is held may be ascribed to
three causes: 1. The satisfaction which is afforded by its results.
2. Its utility in all the arts of life. 3. The little previous
preparation which an entrance on its study requires. To these may be
added, the new interest conferred upon the science by the discoveries of
Black, Priestly, and Lavoisier, which had already introduced into
chemical science the long-neglected requisites of close investigation and
logical deduction; but it was reserved for Sir HUMPHRY DAVY to
demonstrate the vast superiority of modern principles, by the most
brilliant career of discovery, which, since the days of Newton, have
graced the annals of science.
Sir Humphry Davy was born December 17, 1779, at Penzance, in Cornwall.
His family was ancient, and above the middle class; his paternal great
grandfather had considerable landed property in the parish of Budgwin,
and his father possessed a small paternal estate opposite St. Michael's
Mount, called Farfal, on which he died in 1795, after having injured his
fortune by expending considerable sums in attempting agricultural
improvements. Sir Humphry received the first rudiments of his education
at the grammar-schools of Penzance and Truro: at the former place, he
resided with Mr. John Tomkin, surgeon, a benevolent and intelligent man,
who had been intimately connected with his maternal grandfather, and
treated him with a degree of kindness little less than paternal. His
genius was originally inclined to poetry; and there are many natives of
Penzance who remember his poems and verses, written at the early age of
nine years. He cultivated this bias till his fifteenth year, when he
became the pupil of Mr. (since Dr.) Borlase, of Penzance, an ingenious
surgeon, intending to prepare himself for graduating as a physician at
Edinburgh. As a proof of his uncommon mind, at this early age, it is
worthy of mention, that Mr. Davy laid down for himself a plan of
education, which embraced the circle of the sciences. By his eighteenth
year he had acquired the rudiments of botany, anatomy, and physiology,
the simpler mathematics, metaphysics, natural philosophy, and chemistry.
But chemistry soon arrested his whole attention. Having made some
experiments on the air disengaged by sea-weeds from the water of the
ocean, which convinced him that these vegetables performed the same part
in purifying the air dissolved in water which land-vegetables act in the
atmosphere; he communicated them to Dr. Beddoes, who had at that time
circulated proposals for publishing a journal of philosophical
contributions from the West of England. This produced a correspondence
between Dr. Beddoes and Mr. Davy, in which the Doctor proposed, that
Mr. Davy, who was at this time only nineteen years of age, should suspend
his plan of going to Edinburgh, and take a part in experiments which were
then about to be instituted at Bristol, for investigating the medical
powers of factitious airs; to this proposal Mr. Davy consented, on
condition that he should have the uncontrolled superintendence of the
expements. About this time he became acquainted with Davies Gilbert, Esq.
M.P. a gentleman of high scientific attainments, (now President of the
Royal Society), with whom he formed a friendship which has always
continued; and to Mr. Gilbert's judicious advice may be attributed
Mr. Davy's adoption of and perseverance in the study of chemistry. With
Dr. Beddoes, Mr. Davy resided for a considerable time, and was constantly
occupied in new chemical investigations. Here, he discovered the
respirability of nitrous oxide, and made a number of laborious
experiments on gaseous bodies, which he afterwards published in
"Researches Chemical and Philosophical," a work that was universally well
received by the chemical world, and created a high reputation for its
author, at that time only twenty-one years of age. This led to his
introduction to Count Rumford, and to his being elected Professor of
Chemistry to the Royal Institution in Albemarle-street. On obtaining this
appointment Mr. Davy gave up all his views of the medical profession, and
devoted himself entirely to chemistry.
Mr. Davy's first experiments as Professor of Chemistry in the Royal
Institution, were made on the substance employed in the process of
tanning, with others to which similar properties were ascribed, in
consequence of the discovery made by M. Seguier, of Paris, of the
peculiar vegetable matter, now called tannin. He was, during the same
period, frequently occupied in experiments on galvanism.
To the agriculturist, chemistry is of the first consideration. The
dependence of agriculture upon chemical causes had been previously
noticed, but it was first completely demonstrated in a course of lectures
before the Board of Agriculture, which Mr. Davy commenced in the year
1802, and continued for ten years. This series of lectures contained much
popular and practical information, and belongs to the most useful of Mr.
Davy's scientific labours; for the application of chemistry to
agriculture is one of its most important results; and so rapid were the
discoveries of the author, that in preparing these discourses for
publication, a few years afterwards, he was under the necessity of making
several alterations, to adapt them to the improved state of chemical
knowledge, which his own labours had, in that short time, produced.
In 1803, he was chosen a fellow of the Royal Society, and in 1805, a
member of the Royal Irish Academy. He now enjoyed the friendship of most
of the distinguished literary men and philosophers of the metropolis, and
enumerated among his intimate friends, Sir Joseph Banks, Cavendish,
Hatchett, Wollaston, Children, Tennant, and other eminent men. At the
same time he corresponded with the principal chemists of every part of
Europe. In 1806, he was appointed to deliver, before the Royal Society,
the Bakerian lecture, in which he displayed some very interesting new
agencies of electricity, by means of the celebrated galvanic apparatus.[1]
Soon afterwards, he made one of the most brilliant discoveries of modern
times, in the decomposition of two fixed alkalies, which, in direct
refutation of the hypothesis previously adopted, were found to consist of
a peculiar metallic base united with a large quantity of oxygen. These
alkalies were potash and soda, and the metals thus discovered were called
potassium and sodium, Mr. Davy was equally successful in the application
of galvanism to the decomposition of the earths. About this time he
became Secretary of the Royal Society. In 1808, Mr. Davy received a prize
from the French Institute. During the greater part of 1810, he was
employed on the combinations of oxymuriatic gas and oxygen; and towards
the close of the same year, he delivered a course of lectures before the
Dublin Society, and received from Trinity College, Dublin, the honorary
degree of LL. D.
In the year 1812, Mr. Davy married his amiable lady, then Mrs. Apreece,
widow of Shuckburgh Ashby Apreece, Esq. and daughter and heiress of the
late Charles Kerr, of Kelso, Esq. By his union with this lady, Mr. Davy
acquired not only a considerable fortune, but the inestimable treasure of
an affectionate and exemplary wife, and a congenial friend and companion,
capable of appreciating his character and attainments. A few days
previously to his marriage, he received the honour of knighthood from his
Majesty, then Prince Regent, being the first person on whom he conferred
that dignity.
We now arrive at the most important result of Sir Humphry Davy's labours,
viz. the invention of the SAFETY-LAMP for coal mines, which has been
generally and successfully adopted throughout Europe. This invention has
been the means of preserving many valuable lives, and preventing horrible
mutilations, more terrible even than death; and were this Sir Humphry
Davy's only invention, it would secure him an immortality in the annals
of civilization and science. The general principle of this discovery may
be described as follows:
"The frequency of accidents, arising from the explosion of the fire-damp,
or inflammable gas of the coal mines, mixed with atmospherical air,
occasioned the formation of a committee at Sunderland, for the purpose of
investigating the causes of these calamities, and of endeavouring to
discover and apply a preventive. Sir Humphry received an invitation, in
1815, from Dr. Gray, one of the members of the committee; in consequence
of which he went to the North of England, and visiting some of the
principal collieries in the neighbourhood of Newcastle, soon convinced
himself that no improvement could be made in the mode of ventilation, but
that the desired preventive must be sought in a new method of lighting
the mines, free from danger, and which, by indicating the state of the
air in the part of the mine where inflammable air was disengaged, so as
to render the atmosphere explosive, should oblige the miners to retire
till the workings were properly cleared. The common means then employed
for lighting the dangerous part of the mines consisted of a steel wheel
revolving in contact with flint, and affording a succession of sparks:
but this apparatus always required a person to work it, and was not
entirely free from danger. The fire-damp was known to be light
carburetted hydrogen gas; but its relations to combustion had not been
examined. It is chiefly produced from what are called blowers or fissures
in the broken strata, near dykes. Sir Humphry made various experiments on
its combustibility and explosive nature; and discovered, that the
fire-damp requires a very strong heat for its inflammation; that azote and
carbonic acid, even in very small proportions, diminished the velocity of
the inflammation; that mixtures of the gas would not explode in metallic
canals or troughs, where their diameter was less than one-seventh of an
inch, and their depth considerable in proportion to their diameter; and
that explosions could not be made to pass through such canals, or through
very fine wire sieves, or wire gauze. The consideration of these facts
led Sir Humphry to adopt a lamp, in which the flame, by being supplied
with only a limited quantity of air should produce such a quantity of
azote and carbonic acid as to prevent the explosion of the fire-damp, and
which, by the nature of its apertures for giving admittance and egress to
the air, should be rendered incapable of communicating any explosion to
the external air. These requisites were found to be afforded by air-tight
lanterns, of various constructions, supplied with air from tubes or
canals of small diameter, or from apertures covered with wire-gauze,
placed below the flame, through which explosions cannot be communicated;
and having a chimney at the upper part, for carrying off the foul air.
Sir Humphry soon afterwards found that a constant flame might be kept up
from the explosive mixture issuing from the apertures of a wire-gauze
sieve. He introduced a very small lamp in a cylinder, made of wire-gauze,
having six thousand four hundred apertures in the square inch. He closed
all apertures except those of the gauze, and introduced the lamp, burning
brightly within the cylinder, into a large jar, containing several quarts
of the most explosive mixture of gas from the distillation of coal and
air; the flame of the wick immediately disappeared, or rather was lost,
for the whole of the interior of the cylinder became filled with a feeble
but steady flame of a green colour, which burnt for some minutes, till it
had entirely destroyed the explosive power of the atmosphere. This
discovery led to a most important improvement in the lamp, divested the
fire-damp of all its terrors, and applied its powers, formerly so
destructive, to the production of a useful light. Some minor
improvements, originating in Sir Humphry's researches into the nature of
flame, were afterwards effected. Experiments of the most satisfactory
nature were speedily made, and the invention was soon generally adopted.
Some attempts were made to dispute the honour of this discovery with its
author, but his claims were confirmed by the investigations of the first
philosophers of the age."[2]--The coal owners of the Tyne and Wear
evinced their sense of the benefits resulting from this invention, by
presenting Sir Humphry with a handsome service of plate worth nearly two
thousand pounds, at a public dinner at Newcastle, October 11, 1817.
In 1813, Sir Humphry was elected a corresponding member of the Institute
of France, and vice-president of the Royal Institution; in 1817, one of
the eight associates of the Royal Academy; in 1818 created a baronet, and
during the last ten years he has been elected a member of most of the
learned bodies of Europe.
We could occupy many pages with the interesting details of Sir Humphry
Davy's travels in different parts of Europe for scientific purposes,
particularly to investigate the causes of volcanic phenomena, to instruct
the miners of the coal districts in the application of his safety-lamp,
and to examine the state of the Herculaneum manuscripts and to illustrate
the remains of the chemical arts of the ancients. He analyzed the colours
used in painting by the ancient Greek and Roman artists. His experiments
were chiefly made on the paintings in the baths of Titus, the ruins
called the baths of Livia, in the remains of other palaces and baths of
ancient Rome, and in the ruins of Pompeii. By the kindness of his friend
Canova, who was charged with the care of the works connected with ancient
art in Rome, he was enabled to select with his own hands specimens of the
different pigments, that had been formed in vases discovered in the
excavations, which had been lately made beneath the ruins of the palace
of Titus, and to compare them with the colours fixed on the walls, or
detached in fragments of stucco. The results of all these researches were
published in the Transactions of the Royal Society for 1815, and are
extremely interesting. The concluding observations, in which he impresses
on artists the superior importance of permanency to brilliancy in the
colours used in painting, are especially worthy the attention of artists.
On his examination of the Herculaneum manuscripts, at Naples, in 1818-19,
he was of opinion they had not been acted upon by fire, so as to be
completely carbonized, but that their leaves were cemented together by a
substance formed during the fermentation and chemical change of ages. He
invented a composition for the solution of this substance, but he could
not discover more than 100 out of 1,265 manuscripts, which presented any
probability of success.
Sir Humphry returned to England in 1820, and in the same year his
respected friend, Sir Joseph Banks, President of the Royal Society, died.
Several discussions took place respecting a proper successor, when
individuals of high and even very exalted rank were named as candidates.
But science, very properly in this case, superseded rank. Amongst the
philosophers whose labours had enriched the Transactions of the Royal
Society, two were most generally adverted to, Sir Humphry Davy and Dr.
Wollaston; but Dr. Wollaston very modestly declined being a candidate
after his friend had been nominated, and received from the council of the
Society the unanimous compliment of being placed in the chair of the
Royal Society, till the election by the body in November.[3] A trifling
opposition was made to Sir Humphry Davy's election, by some unknown
persons, who proposed Lord Colchester, but Sir Humphry was placed in the
chair by a majority of 200 to 13. For this honour no one could be more
completely qualified. Sir Humphry retained his seat as President till the
year 1827, when, in consequence of procrastinated ill health, in great
measure brought on by injuries occasioned to his constitution by
scientific experiments, he was induced, by medical advice, to retire to
the continent. He accordingly resigned his seat as President of the Royal
Society, the chair being filled, _pro tem_, by Davies Gilbert, Esq. who,
at the Anniversary Meeting, Nov. 30, 1827, was unanimously elected
President.
Since his retirement, Sir Humphry Davy resided principally at Rome, where
a short time ago he had an alarming attack of a paralytic nature, but
from which he was apparently, though slowly, recovering. Lady Davy, who
had been detained in England by her own ill health, joined Sir Humphry,
at Rome, on hearing of his alarming state. Thence he travelled by easy
stages to Geneva, without feeling any particular inconvenience, and
without any circumstances which denoted the approach of dissolution: but
on Friday, May 29, 1829, the illustrious philosopher closed his mortal
career, in the fifty-first year of his age, having only reached Geneva on
the day previous. Lady Davy had the gratification of contributing, by
her soothing care, to the comfort of his last days during their stay in
Italy, and on their journey to Geneva, where they intended to pass the
summer, and hoped to have derived benefit from the eminent practitioners
of that city. Sir Humphry had also been joined by his brother, Dr. John
Davy, physician to the forces in Malta, whence he came on receiving the
intelligence of his brother's danger. But all human art and skill were
of no avail. The last and fatal attack took place at half-past two on
Friday morning, and the pulse ceased to beat shortly after. The event was
no sooner known, than the afflicted widow received the condolence and
affectionate offer of services from the most distinguished individuals of
Geneva; amongst whom we must mention M. A. de Condolle, the eminent
botanist, and M. Sismondi, the historian, both equally beloved for their
amiable character, as illustrious throughout Europe for their works. M.
de Condolle obligingly took charge of all the details of the interment of
his illustrious colleague; and the governor of the Canton, the Academy of
Geneva, the Consistory of the Geneva Church, the Society of Arts and of
Natural Philosophy and History, together with nearly all the English
resident there, accompanied the remains to the burial-ground, where the
English service was performed by the Rev. Mr. John Magers of Queen's
College, and the Rev. Mr. Burgess. The members of the Academy, in the
absence of any relation of the deceased, took their place in the funeral
procession; and the invitations to the syndicate, and to the learned
bodies who accompanied it, were made by that body in the same character.
The whole was conducted with much appropriate order and decency, and
whilst every attention and respect were paid to the memory of the
deceased, nothing was attempted beyond the unostentatious simplicity
which the deceased had frequently declared to be his wish, whenever his
mortal remains should be consigned to their last home; and which in
accordance to that wish, had been expressly enjoined to her kind friends
by the afflicted widow. In the procession, which followed the corporate
bodies and the countrymen of the deceased, were many of the most eminent
manufacturers of Geneva, and a large body of mechanics, who were anxious
to pay this tribute of regard and gratitude to one whom they deservedly
looked upon as a great benefactor to the arts, and promoter of sciences,
by the application of which they earn their livelihood.[4]
During his retirement on the Continent, Sir Humphry continued to
communicate the splendid results of his labours to the Royal Society,
and at the anniversary meeting of the year 1827, the royal medal was
awarded to him for a series of brilliant discoveries developing the
relation between electricity and chemistry.[5] Upon this interesting
occasion, Mr. Davies Gilbert spoke at some length, commencing as
follows: "It is with feelings most gratifying to myself that I now
approach to the award of a royal medal to Sir Humphry Davy; and I esteem
it a most fortunate occurrence, that this award should have taken place
during the short period of my having to discharge the duties attached to
the office of president; having witnessed the whole progress of Sir
Humphry Davy's advancement in science and in reputation, from his first
attempts in his native town to vary some of Dr. Priestly's experiments
on the extraction of oxygen from marine vegetables to the point of
eminence which we all know him to have reached. It is not necessary for
me more than to advert to his discovery of nitrous oxyde; to his
investigation of the action of light on gases; on the nature of heat; to
his successful discrimination of proximate vegetable elements; nor to
his most scientific, ingenious, and useful invention, the
safety-lamp,--an invention reasoned out from its principles, with all
the accuracy and precision of mathematical deduction."