Category: Essays, Letters & Speeches
Humphry Davy was born at Penzance, in Cornwall, on the 17th of December, 1778, and died at Geneva on the 29th of May, 1829, at the age of fifty. He was a philosopher who turned knowledge to wisdom; he was one of the foremost of our English men of science; and this book, writte...
Humphry Davy was born at Penzance, in Cornwall, on the 17th of December, 1778, and died at Geneva on the 29th of May, 1829, at the age of fifty. He was a philosopher who turned...
2. Chapter 2I saw Ambrosio's countenance kindle at Onuphrio's explanation of his opinions, and he appeared to be meditating an angry reply. I endeavoured to change the conversation to the s...
3. Chapter 3When I was left alone, I seated myself in the moonshine, on one of the steps leading to the seats supposed to have been occupied by the patricians in the Colosaeum at the time o...
4. Chapter 4"I will now call your attention to some remarkable laws belonging to the history of society, and from the consideration of which you will be able gradually to develop the higher...
5. Chapter 5The low and sweet voice ceased; it appeared as if I had fallen suddenly upon the earth, but there was a bright light before me and I heard my name loudly called; the voice was n...
6. Chapter 6_Onu_.--I fear I shall shock Ambrosio, but I cannot help vindicating a little the philosophical results of human reason, which it must be allowed are entirely hostile to his ide...
7. Chapter 7_Amb_.--Revelation has not disclosed to us the nature of this state, but only fixed its certainty. We are sure from geological facts, as well as from sacred history, that man is...
8. Chapter 8It was on the 16th of May, 18-- that we left Naples at three in the morning for the purpose of visiting the remains of the temples of Paestum, and having provided relays of hors...
9. Chapter 9_The Stranger_.--On these matters I had facts to communicate; on the geological scheme of the early history of the globe there are only analogies to guide us, which different mi...
10. Chapter 10_The Stranger_.--I agree with Ambrosio in opinion on the subjects you have just mentioned. In my youth, I was a sceptic; and this I believe is usually the case with young person...
11. Chapter 11For this journey I had one companion, an early friend and medical adviser. He had lived much in the world, had acquired a considerable fortune, had given up his profession, was...
12. Chapter 12_The Unknown_.--The powers of the organic system depend upon a continued state of change. The waste of the body produced in muscular action, perspiration, and various secretions...
13. Chapter 13_The Unknown_.--This I will not allow. Even in the Mosaic history of the creation of man his frame is made in the image of God--that is, capable of intelligence; and the Creator...
14. Chapter 14_The Unknown_.--I will readily allow that accident has had much to do with the origin of the arts as with the progress of the sciences. But it has been by scientific processes a...
15. Chapter 15_The Unknown_.--There is nothing more difficult than a good definition, for it is scarcely possible to express in a few words the abstracted view of an infinite variety of facts...
16. Chapter 16_The Unknown_.--You are perfectly right. There are few compound stones, possessing a considerable specific gravity, which are not liable to change from this cause; and oxide of...