‘I should wish particularly on this point to be understood rightly. I am not an advocate for alchemy and its attendant frauds; that will appear from the tenor of my discourse; but I conceive it to be a noble and glorious object to follow up the paths trod by those chemists who wish for the improvement of science to ascertain the compound nature of metals. It is a subject well worthy of pursuit, and whenever the discovery is made it will confer immortal honour on the discoverer, the age, and the country that it is made in.’ Faraday then says, ‘Having thus given the general character of the metals, Sir H. Davy proceeded to make a few observations on the connection of science with the other parts of polished and social life. Here it would be improper for me to follow him. I should merely injure and destroy the beautiful, the sublime observations that fell from his lips. He spoke in the most energetic and luminous manner of the advancement of the arts and sciences, of the connection that had always existed between them and other parts of a nation’s economy. He noticed the peculiar congeries of great men in all departments of life that generally appeared together, noticed Anaximander, Anaximenes, Socrates, Newton, Bacon, Elizabeth, &c., but, by an unaccountable omission, forgot himself, though I will venture to say no one else present did. ‘During the whole of these observations his delivery was easy, his diction elegant, his tone good, and his sentiments sublime.’ Faraday ends his volume with the notes of eighteen experiments that were made in this lecture. The same day Davy wrote to his brother. It was the eve of his wedding. Friday, April 10, 1812. MY DEAR BROTHER,--You will have excused me for not writing to you on subjects of science. I have been absorbed by arrangements on which the happiness of my future life depends. Before you receive this these arrangements will, I trust, be settled, and in a few weeks I shall be able to return to my habits of study and scientific research. I am going to be married to-morrow, and I have a fair prospect of happiness with the most amiable and intellectual woman I have ever known. The Prince Regent, unsolicited by me or by any of my intimate friends, was pleased to confer the honour of knighthood on me at the last levée. This distinction has not often been bestowed on scientific men, but I am proud of it, as the greatest of human geniuses bore it; and it is at least a proof that the world has not overlooked my humble efforts in the cause of science. * * * * * I am, my dear Brother, most affectionately yours, H. DAVY. On June 12 he published his ‘Elements of Chemical Philosophy.’ It is dedicated to Lady Davy, ‘as a pledge that he shall continue to pursue science with unabated ardour.’