What a strange--what a discordant anomaly in the construction of the human mind do these anecdotes unfold! We have here presented to us a philosopher, who, with the glowing fancy of a poet, is insensible to the divine beauties of the sister arts! Let the metaphysician, if he can, unravel the mystery,--the biographer has only to observe that the Muses could never have danced in chorus at his birth. On the following morning, Mr. Underwood accompanied him to the Jardin des Plantes, and presented him to the venerable Vauquelin, who was the first scientific man he had seen in Paris. On their return they inspected the colossal Elephant which was intended to form a part of the fountain then erecting on the site of the Bastile. Davy appeared to be more delighted with this stupendous work than with any object he saw in Paris: to its architect, M. Alavair, he formed an immediate attachment. It has been observed that, during his residence in this city, his likes and dislikes to particular persons were violent, and that they were, apparently, not directed by any principle, but were the effect of sudden impulse. In the course of removing the foundations, and in digging the canal, the subterranean dungeons of the Bastile were discovered; they were eight in number, and were called _Les Oubliettes_. As they were under the level of the ditch of the fortress, any attempt to escape from them by piercing the wall, must have inevitably drowned the unhappy prisoner together with all those who inhabited the contiguous cells; one of which was discovered with the entrance walled up. Upon demolishing this wall there appeared the skeleton of the last wretched person who had been thus entombed. In all these discoveries Davy took the warmest interest. Upon the construction of the Elephant, he wrote a letter to M. Alavair, to which I am desirous of directing the attention of my scientific readers. It derives its peculiar interest from the opinion which he at that period entertained upon the subject of the excitement of Voltaic action by the contact of different metals. TO M. ANTOINE ALAVAIR. SIR, November 1813. It will give me much pleasure if I can repay your civility to me by offering any hints that may be useful in the execution of the magnificent work constructing under your directions. Ten parts of copper to one of tin is an excellent composition for a work upon a great scale, nor do I believe any proportions can be better.