Although during 1801 Davy had given some desultory Lectures, his splendid career cannot be said to have commenced until the following year, when on the 21st of January he delivered his Introductory Lecture to a crowded and enlightened audience in the Theatre of the Royal Institution; which was afterwards printed at the request of a respectable proportion of the Society. It contains a masterly view of the benefits to be derived from the various branches of science. He represents the Chemist as the Ruler of all the elements that surround us, and which he employs either for the satisfaction of his wants, or the gratification of his wishes. Not contented with what is to be found on the surface of the earth, he describes him as penetrating into her bosom, and even of searching the depths of the ocean, for the purpose of allaying the restlessness of his desires, or of extending and increasing the boundaries of his power. In examining the science of Chemistry, with regard to its great agency in the improvement of society, he offers the following almost prophetic remarks. "Unless any great physical changes should take place upon the globe, the permanency of the Arts and Sciences is rendered certain, in consequence of the diffusion of knowledge, by means of the invention of Printing; and by which those words which are the immutable instruments of thought, are become the constant and widely diffused nourishment of the mind, and the preservers of its health and energy. "Individuals influenced by interested motives or false views, may check for a time the progress of knowledge;--moral causes may produce a momentary slumber of the public spirit;--the adoption of wild and dangerous theories, by ambitious or deluded men, may throw a temporary opprobrium on literature; but the influence of true philosophy will never be despised; the germs of improvement are sown in minds, even where they are not perceived; and sooner or later, the spring-time of their growth must arrive. "In reasoning concerning the future hopes of the human species, we may look forward with confidence to a state of society, in which the different orders and classes of men will contribute more effectually to the support of each other than they have hitherto done. This state, indeed, seems to be approaching fast; for, in consequence of the multiplication of the means of instruction, the man of science and the manufacturer are daily becoming more assimilated to each other. The artist, who formerly affected to despise scientific principles, because he was incapable of perceiving the advantages of them, is now so far enlightened as to favour the adoption of new processes in his art, whenever they are evidently connected with a diminution of labour; and the increase of projectors, even to too great an extent, demonstrates the enthusiasm of the public mind in its search after improvement.