"Natural electricity," observes our philosopher, "has hitherto been little investigated, except in the case of its evident and powerful concentration in the atmosphere. Its slow and silent operations in every part of the surface will probably be found more immediately and importantly connected with the order and economy of nature; and investigations on this subject can hardly fail to enlighten our philosophical systems of the earth, and may possibly place new powers within our reach." Thus concludes one of the most masterly and powerful productions of scientific genius. I may perhaps have been considered prolix in recording the progressive researches by which he arrived at his results; but let it be remembered, that the great fame of Davy, as an experimental philosopher, rests upon this single memoir; and though the secondary results to be hereafter considered, may be more dazzling to ordinary minds, yet in the judgment of every scientific observer, they must appear far less glorious than the discovery of the primitive laws. Let me ask whether Sir Isaac Newton does not deserve greater fame for his invention of fluxions, than for the calculations performed by the application of them? I do not hesitate in comparing these great philosophers, since each has enlightened us by discoveries alike effected by means invented by himself. Not only did both unlock the caskets of Nature, but they had the superior merit of planning and constructing the key. I challenge those, who have carefully followed me through the details of the preceding memoir, to show a single instance in which accident, so mainly contributory to former discoveries in electricity, had any share in conducting its author to truth. Step by step did he, with philosophic caution and unwearied perseverance, unfold all the particular phenomena and details of his subject; his genius then took flight, and with an eagle's eye caught the plan of the whole.--A new science has been thus created; and so important and extensive are its applications, so boundless and sublime its views, that we may fairly anticipate the fulfilment of those prophetic words of Dr. Priestley, who, in the preface to his History of Electricity,[67] exclaims--"Electricity seems to be giving us an inlet into the internal structure of bodies, on which all their sensible properties depend. By pursuing this new light, therefore, the bounds of natural science may possibly be extended beyond what we can now form any idea of. New worlds may open to our view, and the glory of the great Sir Isaac Newton himself, and all his contemporaries, be eclipsed by a new set of philosophers, in quite a new field of speculation. Could that great man revisit the earth, and view the experiments of the present race of electricians, he would be no less amazed than Roger Bacon, or Sir Francis, would have been at his." In our turn we may ask, what would be the astonishment--what the delight of Dr. Priestley, could