“There are some paragraphs that read like the inspirations of genius, though it is now of course difficult to tell to what extent his statements and opinions were warranted by the facts then known. He gives a wonderfully correct idea of the action of peas or beans in rotation, even including the statement that they obtain their nitrogen from the atmosphere.” Although his time and energy were necessarily largely absorbed by the demands of the Managers, Davy never lost sight of the subject of voltaic electricity, and at intervals he was able to resume his inquiries upon it. What specially impressed him was the power of the voltaic pile as an analytic agent; and his laboratory journals, preserved at the Royal Institution, record the results of numerous trials on the behaviour of compound substances under its influence. In spite of innumerable distractions and constant interruptions, due mainly to the precarious position of the Institution, Davy gradually succeeded in unravelling the fundamental laws of electro-chemistry, and in thus importing a new order of conceptions, altogether unlooked for and undreamt of, into science. This really constitutes his greatest claim as a philosopher to our admiration and gratitude. The isolation of the metals of the alkalis, and the proof of the compound nature of the alkaline earths, were unquestionably achievements of the highest brilliancy, and as such appeal strongly to the popular imagination. But they were only the necessary and consequential links in a chain of discovery which, had Davy neglected to make them, would have been immediately forged by others. It is significant that almost immediately after the capital discovery of Nicholson and Carlisle, Dr. Henry of Manchester, the well-known friend and collaborator of Dalton, should have made the attempt to separate the presumed metallic principle of potash by the agency of voltaic electricity. * * * * *