at the negative pole, and oxygen and nitrogen at the positive pole, though the bodies furnishing them were separate from each other. The papers, however, are mainly remarkable for the fact that they served to establish the intimate connection between the electrical effects and the chemical changes going on in the pile, and for the conclusion drawn concerning their mutual dependence. Within a few days after his removal to the Royal Institution he resumed his inquiries, publishing his results in a series of notices in the short-lived Journal of the Royal Institution. In 1801 he sent his first communication to the Royal Society, on “An Account of some Galvanic Combinations, formed by the Arrangement of single metallic Plates and Fluids, analogous to the new Galvanic Apparatus of Mr. Volta.” But at this period, and for some time afterwards, Davy was not altogether free to develop his own ideas, as the work of the laboratory was controlled by a committee which met, from time to time, to deliberate and settle upon the researches which were to be undertaken by their Professor. As we have seen, he was requested, in the first place, to turn his attention to tanning, and to investigate the astringent principles employed in the manufacture of leather. Afterwards, when the Managers determined to form a mineralogical collection, and to institute an assay office for the improvement of mineralogy and metallurgy, he was ordered to make analyses of rocks and minerals. And lastly, in consequence of an arrangement between the Managers and the Board of Agriculture, effected by Arthur Young, he was required to take up the subject of Agricultural Chemistry. To a man of Thomas Young’s temperament the fussy activity of committees, directed by such people as Bernard and Hippesley, would have been resented as an irksome, if not intolerable, interference; but Davy invariably acted as if he considered that their decisions promoted the true interests of the Institution, and entered with ardour into each new scheme. There was no irksomeness to him in being called upon to change the current of his ideas, for he delighted in the opportunity of exhibiting his versatility; and, confident in his powers, he had the ambition to touch everything in turn, and to adorn it. That he should have succeeded so well under such conditions is perhaps the strongest evidence that could be adduced of the strength and elasticity of his eager, active mind, and of his astonishing power of rapid, well-directed work. We have already dealt with his researches in connection with tanning. The efforts of the Managers towards the improvement of mineralogy and metallurgy, in spite of the generous assistance of Mr. Greville, Sir J. St. Aubin, and Sir A. Hume, and the “activity and intelligence of Mr. Davy,” proved abortive.