Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 14.djvu/198

 his invention,' the safety lamp. On 11 Jan. 1817 the subscription amounted to nearly 1,500l. On 26 Sept. 1817 a dinner was given to Davy, at which the coalowners presented him with a service of plate, and a resolution was passed ascribing the merit of the discovery to Davy alone. Numerous modifications of the safety lamp have been introduced from time to time. The royal commission on mines, 1866, during their inquiry collected no fewer than two hundred lamps, many of them exhibiting a high order of safety.

Davy communicated several papers to the Royal Society in connection with this inquiry, and the president and council adjudged to him the Rumford medals. Upon the advice of his friends the principal memoirs were collected and published in an octavo volume entitled 'On the Safety Lamp for Coal Mines, and some Researches on Flame,' London, 1818. Davy was created a baronet on 20 Oct. 1818. In 1813 the Geological Society of Cornwall was established at Penzance. Davy naturally manifested considerable zeal in its progress. He made a handsome donation to its funds, contributed a suite of specimens illustrative of the volcanic district of Naples, and communicated a memoir on the geology of Cornwall, which was printed in the first volume of the society's 'Transactions.' On 26 May 1818 Davy embarked at Dover for the continent, in order to proceed to Naples, his object being to unfold and render legible the ancient papyri deposited in the museum of that city. He visited Herculaneum, and afterwards commenced his experiments on unrolling the papyri. He communicated to the Royal Society the results of his inquiries and experiments on 15 March 1821, which were published in the 'Transactions' of that year. The final result of this inquiry was not successful or satisfactory. Davy succeeded in partially unrolling twenty-three manuscripts, from which fragments of writing were obtained, but unpleasant circumstances interfered with his inquiries, and he concluded that 'it would be both a waste of public money and a compromise of our own character to proceed.'

Davy returned to England in 1820, and on 20 Nov. was elected to succeed Sir Joseph Banks in the presidential chair of the Royal Society. Unfortunately, conflicting opinions arose respecting the management of the Royal Institution, and party spirit was kindled between the Albemarle Street members and the fellows of the Royal Society. This was a source of very considerable annoyance to the president. Davy, nevertheless, continued to give close attention to science. The discovery by Oersted of the relation between magnetism and electricity claimed his immediate attention, and in 1820-21 and 1823 he communicated his 'Researches on Electro-magnetic Phenomena' to the Royal Society. In these inquiries he received much assistance from Faraday, as well as in those on the condensation of the gases, on which subject he read two papers before the Royal Society.

The rapid decay of the copper sheathing on the bottoms of our ships was a problem submitted by the government to the Royal Society, and a committee was formed to investigate it. In 1823 Davy commenced his inquiry into this matter, and prosecuted it with his usual zeal. The results obtained appeared highly satisfactory. A piece of zinc, not larger than a pea, was found adequate to preserve forty or fifty square inches of copper. Numerous experiments were made — and with results equally conclusive — of Davy's theory, based on the electrical conditions of the two metals. Several ships in the royal navy were fitted with Davy's protectors, but the government in 1825 ordered the discontinuance of them on all sea-going ships. Shell-fish of various kinds were found to adhere to the copper plates, which were prevented from oxidising by the electrical action of the metals, and this greatly interfered with their sailing powers. These protectors were still continued on ships in harbour, but the plan was finally abandoned on those in September 1828. Davy's vexation was great, and the consequences were soon apparent in his failing health. At the end of 1826 his complaint assumed a more alarming form. Feeling more unwell than usual while on a visit to Lord Gage, he resolved to return to London, and he was seized while on the journey with an apoplectic attack. Prompt attention arrested the more serious symptoms, but paralysis ensued. As soon as possible it was thought desirable that Davy should winter in Italy. He wrote from Ravenna on 14 March 1827 stating his intention to remain there until the beginning of April and then to go to the Alps. Feeling that his recovery was slow, he determined to resign the chair of the Royal Society, and he wrote to that effect to Davies Gilbert on 1 July 1827. On 6 Nov. 1827 a resolution passed, at a very full meeting, appointed Gilbert to fill the chair until the anniversary meeting. Davy had contribute forty-six memoirs and lectures to the 'Transactions' of the Royal Society, and he published nine separate works on science.

Davy returned to England, and, writing from Park Street on 29 Oct. 1827, he expresses himself to his friends hopefully, but complains of a want of power and frequently