The Life of Sir Humphry Davy, Bart. LL.D., Volume 2 (of 2)Paris, John Ayrton
History
The Life of Sir Humphry Davy, Bart. LL.D., Volume 2 (of 2)
Paris, John Ayrton
Chemists -- England -- Biography; Davy, Humphry, Sir, 1778-1829
"CAVENDISH was possessed of a minute knowledge of most of the
departments of Natural Philosophy: he carried into his chemical
researches a delicacy and precision, which have never been
exceeded: possessing depth and extent of mathematical knowledge,
he reasoned with the caution of a geometer upon the results of his
experiments; and it may be said of him, what, perhaps, can scarcely
be said of any other person, that whatever he accomplished, was
perfect at the moment of its production. His processes were all of
a finished nature; executed by the hand of a master, they required
no correction; the accuracy and beauty of his earliest labours even
have remained unimpaired amidst the progress of discovery, and
their merits have been illustrated by discussion and exalted by
time.
"DR. PRIESTLEY began his career of discovery without any general
knowledge of chemistry, and with a very imperfect apparatus. His
characteristics were ardent zeal and the most unwearied industry.
He exposed all the substances he could procure to chemical
agencies, and brought forward his results as they occurred, without
attempting logical method or scientific arrangement. His hypotheses
were usually founded upon a few loose analogies; but he changed
them with facility; and being framed without much effort, they
were relinquished with little regret. He possessed in the highest
degree ingenuousness and the love of truth. His manipulations,
though never very refined, were always simple, and often ingenious.
Chemistry owes to him some of her most important instruments of
research, and many of her most useful combinations; and no single
person ever discovered so many new and curious substances.
"SCHEELE possessed in the highest degree the faculty of invention;
all his labours were instituted with an object in view, and after
happy or bold analogies. He owed little to fortune or to accidental
circumstances: born in an obscure situation, occupied in the duties
of an irksome employment, nothing could damp the ardour of his
mind, or chill the fire of his genius; with very small means, he
accomplished very great things. No difficulties deterred him from
submitting his ideas to the test of experiment. Occasionally misled
in his views, in consequence of the imperfection of his apparatus,
or the infant state of the enquiry, he never hesitated to give
up his opinions the moment they were contradicted by facts. He
was eminently endowed with that candour which is characteristic
of great minds, and which induces them to rejoice as well in the
detection of their own errors, as in the discovery of truth. His
papers are admirable models of the manner in which experimental
research ought to be pursued; and they contain details on some of
the most important and brilliant phenomena of chemical philosophy."
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