‘I have received a very interesting letter from Ampère. He says that a combination of chlorine and azote has been discovered at Paris, which is a fluid and explodes by the heat of the hand, the discovery of which cost an eye and a finger to the author. He gives no details as to the mode of combining them. I have tried in my little apparatus with ammonia cooled very low and chlorine, but without success.’ On October 24 he writes, ‘On Wednesday we are to have a meeting at the Institution, to try to make this compound of azote and chlorine.’ On November 5 a letter was read at the Royal Society from Davy to Sir Joseph Banks on this compound, which had been formed by exposing chlorine to a solution of nitrate of ammonia. During his investigation the substance exploded in a tube, and he received a severe wound in the eye. On November 16 he wrote to his brother, ‘It is not safe to experiment upon a globule larger than a pin’s head. I have been severely wounded by a piece scarcely bigger.’ In January 1813 he had another severe attack of inflammation in the wounded eye, and it was not perfectly well till April. On April 4 he wrote to his brother, ‘I am now quite recovered, and Jane is very well, and we have both enjoyed the last month in London. I have been hard at work (on fluorine). We have now a triad of supporters of combustion. ‘I have just finished printing my “Agricultural Lectures.”’ Soon after he again wrote to his brother: I communicated to you in a former letter my plans as far as they were matured. I have neither given up the Institution nor am I going to France, and, wherever I am, I shall continue to labour in the cause of science with a zeal not diminished by increase of happiness and (with respect to the world) increased independence. I have just finished the first part of my ‘Chemistry’ to my own satisfaction, and I am going to publish my ‘Agricultural Lectures,’ for which I am to get 1,000 guineas for the copyright and fifty guineas for each edition, which seems a fair price. As I shall see you so soon I shall not write about any matters of science. I was appointed professor (honorary) to the Institution at the last meeting (April 5). I do not pledge myself to give lectures. Brande gives twelve. If I lecture it will be on some new series of discoveries, should it be my fortune to make them, and I give up the routine of lecturing merely that I may have more time to pursue original inquiries and forward more the great objects of science. This has been for some time my intention, and it has been hastened by my marriage. I shall have great pleasure in making you acquainted with Lady D. She is a noble creature (if I may be permitted so to speak of a wife) and every day adds to my contentment by the powers of her understanding and her amiable and delightful tones of feeling. God bless you!