Part 7

During the later portion of his life, Sir Humphry was in very infirm health, and in 1828 he determined to go abroad. Proceeding into Italy, he fixed his residence at Rome, whence he sent his last communication to the Royal Society, viz., 'Remarks on the Electricity of the Torpedo.' The chief peculiarity of this paper was the discovery that the electricity of this curious creature had no effect on the most delicate galvanometer. While staying at Rome, Sir Humphry was seized with a paralytic attack, which greatly alarmed his friends. Shortly afterwards he left Rome for Geneva, on reaching which city an attack of apoplexy seized him during the night, which terminated fatally. The funeral took place on the 1st of June, 1829, with all the honour and respect the inhabitants of Geneva could testify. His remains were deposited in the burying-ground of the city, without the walls, the spot being marked by a simple monument, with a Latin inscription, erected by Lady Davy.--_Life of Sir H. Davy, by his brother, John Davy, M.D., F.R.S._ London, 1839.--_Memoir by Dr. Thomas Trail, Encyclopædia Britannica._--_Weld's History of the Royal Society, with Memoirs of the Presidents._ London, 1848.--_Brougham's Lives of Philosophers._ London and Glasgow, 1855.

PETER DOLLOND.

Born February 2, 1731. Died July 2, 1820.

Peter Dollond, the subject of the present memoir, was the eldest son of John Dollond, the celebrated inventor of the Achromatic Refracting Telescope, who, during the greater portion of his life, was engaged in the business of a silk-manufacturer, in Stuart Street, Spitalfields. Here Peter Dollond was born and spent the early portion of his life. On reaching manhood he engaged in the same occupation as his father, and for several years they carried on their manufactures together in Spitalfields. Peter Dollond had, however, acquired some knowledge of the theory of Optics, and he determined, if possible, to turn the knowledge he had gained to the improvement of himself and his family. He accordingly commenced business as an optician, under the direction of his father, in the year 1750, occupying a small house in Vine Street, Spitalfields. In 1752 John Dollond, who up till then had pursued his original occupation, grew weary of pursuits so little in accordance with the natural bent of his mind, and entered into partnership with his son, in a house near to Exeter Change, in the Strand. Here father and son began and continued that series of experimental researches which, in June 1758, led to the memorable conclusion on which was founded the construction of the Achromatic Refracting Telescope. In the following year a patent was obtained for the exclusive sale of these telescopes, but so limited were the means of the authors of this invention, that, in order to defray the expenses of the patent, they were compelled to sell a moiety of its value to an optician, with whom they entered into partnership. Notwithstanding the great practical value of this discovery, it produced little benefit for some years to the owners of the patent. In 1761 John Dollond died, leaving to his son Peter the task of carrying on the business in partnership with the optician who had paid for the patent. This connection was, however, of short duration, for the conduct of his partner was so unsatisfactory, that in 1763 Mr. Dollond purchased from him his share in the business for 200_l._, the full commercial value of this most important discovery being considered at that time to be worth only 400_l._ Peter Dollond was now in possession of the entire patent, and he was soon called upon to contest its validity with the very man who had so lately been concerned in protecting it. These suits were uniformly decided in favour of Dollond, and although vexatious in their character, were of advantage to him, not only in their immediate issue, but also in extending the name, reputation, and sale of the object whose right of ownership was contested.

Mr. Dollond now began to be more generally known, and made the acquaintance of many of the philosophical men of the time, becoming intimate with Dr. Maskelyne, the Astronomer Royal at that period, and with Mr. James Short, a man highly distinguished in arts and science. To this latter gentleman he, in 1765, proposed an improvement in the Achromatic Telescope, which Mr. Short laid before the Royal Society, at the same time signifying that it had his entire concurrence and approval. Among other works of Dollond are an improvement of Headley's Quadrant, communicated to the Royal Society, in 1772, by the Astronomer Royal; and an apparatus for the improvement of the Equatorial instrument, laid before the Society, through the same medium, in 1779.

Mr. Dollond had now earned for himself a well-deserved reputation. In 1786 the American Philosophical Society, unsolicited, and with the approval of Benjamin Franklin, elected him a member of their society.

About the year 1766 the optical business had been removed from the Strand to St. Paul's Churchyard, where it became so extensive and prosperous, that Mr. Dollond took into partnership his brother John. For nearly forty years the brothers resided here, endeavouring, by their cordial and united efforts, to improve and extend each branch of their profession. In 1804 John, the younger brother, died, and in the following year his place was supplied by a nephew, George Huggins, who, on being admitted into partnership, changed his name to Dollond, and eventually succeeded to the whole concern. In 1817 Peter Dollond took up his residence at Richmond Hill, remaining there till June 1820, when he removed to Kennington Common, where he breathed his last, having arrived at his 90th year.--_Memoir by the Rev. Dr. Kelly._

BRYAN DONKIN, F.R.S., &c.

Born March 22, 1768. Died February 27, 1855.

Bryan Donkin was born at Sandoe, in Northumberland. His father, who followed the business of a surveyor and land agent, was acquainted with John Smeaton, the eminent engineer, from having had occasion to consult him frequently on questions relating to the bridges and other works on the Tyne. Donkin early showed a taste for science and mechanics, and when almost a child was to be found continually occupied in making various ingenious mechanical contrivances. He commenced life in the same business as his father, being engaged for a year or two as land agent to the Duke of Dorset. Donkin, however, soon showed the bent of his natural genius by quitting this agency, and going to consult Smeaton as to how he could best become an engineer. By Smeaton's advice, he apprenticed himself to Mr. Hall, of Dartford, in the carrying on of whose works he was soon able to take so active a part, that in 1801-2 he was principally entrusted with the construction of a model of the first machine for making paper, the execution of which had been put into Messrs. Hall's hands by the Messrs. Fourdrinier. The idea of this machine originated with Mr. Roberts, and formed the subject of a patent, which was assigned to Messrs. Bloxam and Fourdrinier. After considerable expense had been incurred, and many trials made with the model, the paper produced was found to be of too inferior a quality for sale. The model remained at Mr. Hall's works for some time, till at length Donkin agreed with the owners to take the matter in hand himself, and for this purpose took premises at Bermondsey (still occupied by his sons). In 1804 he succeeded in producing a machine which, on being erected at Frogmore, Herts, and set to work, was found to be successful, although still far from perfect. A second one, in which still further improvements were introduced, was consequently made the following year and erected at Two-waters; and in 1810 eighteen more of these complex machines were erected at various mills, some of which are even now at work. The practical difficulties having been at length overcome, these machines soon superseded, both at home and abroad, the ordinary method of making paper by hand; and although the original idea was not Mr. Donkin's, still to him the credit is due of having developed, and practically introduced into general use, these most useful and complete mechanical contrivances, by means of which the process of making paper is carried on uninterruptedly from the liquid pulp to the perfect sheet ready for writing or printing.

About the year 1812 Donkin's attention was turned to the subject of the preservation of meat and vegetables in air-tight cases, and he erected a considerable manufactory for this purpose at Bermondsey. Mr. Donkin was also one of the first to introduce improvements into printing machinery. In 1813 he, in conjunction with Mr. Bacon, secured a patent for a Polygonal printing machine, and in the same year invented and brought into use composition rollers, by which some of the greatest difficulties experienced at that time in printing by machinery were overcome. Among other inventions and mechanical contrivances of Donkin's are a very beautiful screw-cutting and dividing machine; an instrument to measure the velocity of the rotation of machinery; and a counting engine: for the two last gold medals were awarded by the Society of Arts. In 1820 Mr. Donkin was much engaged with Sir William Congreve in contriving a method of printing stamps in two colours, with compound plates, for the prevention of forgery; and with the aid of Mr. Wilks, who was at that time his partner, he produced the beautiful machine now used at the Excise and Stamp Offices, and by the East India Company at Calcutta.

Mr. Donkin was an early member of the Society of Arts, and became one of the vice-presidents. From this society he received two medals, one for his invention of an instrument to measure the velocity of the rotation of machinery, and another for his counting-engine.

During the last forty years of his life he was greatly occupied as a civil engineer, and was one of the originators and a vice-president of the Institution of Civil Engineers, which was founded by one of his pupils, Mr. Henry Palmer, and a few other gentlemen, the Royal Charter being obtained by Mr. Telford and himself. He died in his eighty-seventh year, having passed a long life in an almost uninterrupted course of usefulness and good purpose.--_From the Proceedings of the Royal Society_, Nov. 30, 1855.

WILLIAM JAMES FRODSHAM, F.R.S.

Born July 25, 1778. Died June 29, 1850.

William J. Frodsham was born in London, and brought up under the care of his grandfather, a great admirer of John Harrison, the inventor of the timekeeper for ascertaining the longitude at sea. From thus spending his early life with his grandfather, young Frodsham acquired a strong desire to engage in the business of chronometer making, he was consequently apprenticed to a man eminent in that art. Shortly after completing his apprenticeship Mr. Frodsham, in the year 1800, entered into partnership with Mr. W. Parkinson of Lancaster, and hence arose the celebrated firm of Parkinson and Frodsham.

During his entire life Mr. Frodsham devoted himself to the advancement of the art he had engaged in, and being ably assisted by his partner effected various improvements in chronometers, watches, and other timekeepers, and was also the author of a paper on pendulum experiments. Mr. Frodsham lived to an advanced age, surviving his partner by many years. During his career he acquired a large fortune, which he bequeathed to his family, leaving at the same time a sum of 1000_l._ to the Clockmakers' Company, of which he had been Master several times during his life. Mr. Frodsham died at Chatham Place, Hackney, and was buried in Highgate Cemetery.

DAVIES GIDDY GILBERT, D.C.L., P.R.S.

Born March 6, 1767. Died December 24, 1839.

Davies Giddy Gilbert was born at Tredrea, in the parish of St. Erth, in the west of Cornwall. His paternal name was Giddy, his father being the Rev. Edward Giddy of St. Erth. His mother, an heiress of very considerable property, was Catherine Davies, allied to the noble family of Sandys, and a descendant of William Noye, attorney general in the reign of Charles the First. Young Giddy, not being of very robust health, was reared with great care, and his education chiefly superintended by his father, who was an accomplished scholar, and a man of acknowledged ability and attainments.

As Gilbert grew up, it was thought desirable to place him in the grammar school at Penzance; and for this purpose his parents removed for about eighteen months to that town. In 1782 they went to Bristol, where their son's studies were assisted for some time by Mr. Benjamin Donne. In 1785 Gilbert matriculated at Oxford, and became a gentleman-commoner of Pembroke College. He was already master of a considerable amount of mathematical and physical knowledge, the greater portion of which he had acquired by almost unassisted application. While residing at the University he associated with the senior members of his college, preferring their company to that of students of his own age; and considering the natural bent of his tastes, which led him to prefer the study of the severer sciences to the elegancies of classical literature, it is not surprising that such should be the case. Dr. Parr, writing at this time to the late Master of Pembroke, speaks of Mr. Giddy, then twenty-three years old, as 'the Cornish Philosopher,' and adds that he deserved that name.

During his residence at Oxford, Gilbert was a regular attendant at the lectures on anatomy and mineralogy, delivered by Dr. Thompson, at Christ Church. He also attended with assiduity the lectures on chemistry and botany of Drs. Beddoes and Sibthorp, with whom he contracted a friendship, which terminated only with their lives. To the former of these two gentlemen Gilbert subsequently introduced his friend Sir Humphry Davy, at that time in comparatively humble life, but whose extraordinary combination of poetical and philosophical genius had attracted Gilbert's attention, and he thus had the merit and good fortune of contributing to rescue from obscurity one of the greatest discoverers in modern chemistry.

Mr. Gilbert continued to reside principally at his college until the year 1793, when, having previously taken the honorary degree of M.A., he returned to Cornwall to serve as sheriff, and to divide his time, between the cultivation of science and literature, and the duties of a magistrate in a populous and busy town. Previous to this, in the year 1791, he had been elected a Fellow of the Royal Society, his certificate describing him as being "devoted to mathematical and philosophical pursuits." It was signed by Thomas Hornsby, Savilian professor of astronomy, G. Shuckburgh, N. Maskelyne, George Staunton, and other Fellows. In 1804 Mr. Gilbert became a member of Parliament for Helstone, and at the general election in 1806, was chosen to represent Bodmin, continuing to sit for that borough until December, 1832. He was emphatically the representative of scientific interests in the House of Commons, and was continually appointed to serve on committees of inquiry touching scientific and financial questions. He acted as Chairman of the committee for rebuilding London Bridge, causing it to be widened ten feet more than originally proposed, and he greatly contributed by his exertions to carry many very important public projects, amongst which may be mentioned, the Breakwater at Plymouth, and the bill for the revision of weights and measures, of which he was appointed a commissioner. He was also a member of the Board of Longitude.

On the 8th of April, 1808, he married Mary Ann Gilbert, only niece of Charles Gilbert of Eastbourne in Sussex, under whose will he came into possession of considerable estates in that county; and, in compliance with its conjunctions, obtained permission to assume the name and arms of Gilbert.

Mr. Gilbert contributed several important papers on mathematical subjects to the 'Philosophical Transactions.' In July, 1819, he succeeded Samuel Lyons in the office of treasurer to the Royal Society, which office he retained until elected President in 1828. He was also the author of numerous papers in the 'Quarterly Journal of Science and Arts,' and presented the world with the fruits of his labours as an antiquary, by publishing, in 1838, 'The Parochial History of Cornwall,' in four volumes 8vo., founded on the manuscript histories of Mr. Hals and Mr. Tonkin. Mr. Gilbert was a diligent collector of ancient traditions, legendary tales, songs, and carols, illustrating the manners of the Cornish peasants, and printed various ballads at his house at Eastbourne. He possessed great memory and powers of quotation and anecdote; his conversation has been described as being a continued stream of learning and philosophy, adapted with excellent taste to the capacity of his auditory, and enlivened with anecdotes to which the most listless could not but listen and learn.

"His manners," says Dr. Buckland, "were most unaffected, childlike, gentle, and natural. As a friend, he was kind, considerate, forbearing, patient, and generous; and when the grave was closed over him, not one man, woman, or child, who was honoured with his acquaintance, but felt that he had a friend less in the world."

Mr. Gilbert retired from the chair of the Royal Society in 1830, and two years later from Parliament; he did not, however, resign himself to repose, but continued in many ways still to advocate the cause of science. In 1839 he became much weaker in health and spirits; and although he made a journey to Durham, and afterwards into Cornwall, where he presided for the last time at the Anniversary of the Royal Geological Society of Cornwall (of which he had been President since its institution in 1814), he was evidently unequal to the exertions he was making. His last visit was to Oxford, which University had some years before conferred on him the title of D.C.L. From that period he never went into public, but, bidding farewell to London, retired to his house at Eastbourne on the 7th of November, 1839, where he died on the 24th of the following December. His body was borne to the grave by his own labourers, and followed by his widow and family, which consisted of one son (the present J. D. Gilbert, F.R.S.) and two daughters.--_Weld's History of the Royal Society, with Memoirs of the Presidents._ London, 1848.

CHARLES HATCHETT, F.R.S.

Born January 2, 1765. Died March 10, 1847.

Charles Hatchett was born at a house in Long Acre, where his father carried on the business of a coachmaker. He was sent to a school known by the name of Fountayne's, situated in what was formerly called Marylebone Park. On leaving school, Mr. Hatchett continued to live for some time with his father, purposing to follow the same business; he, however, never took kindly to it, but spent the chief part of his time in perusing books of science, or in attending lectures on scientific subjects; and his father, perceiving the bent of his inclination, made him a handsome allowance, to enable him to prosecute his studies.

An amusing story is told by the Rev. Mr. Lockwood, Rector of Kingham, who was an intimate friend of Mr. Hatchett's, that one day he remembered asking Hatchett what first led him to turn his attention to the study of chemistry; he replied, that he believed it was his love for raspberry-jam; for, when quite a boy, he used to accompany his mother to the storeroom, and on one occasion, while as usual entreating for some jam, she locked the door, and putting the key in her pocket, told him he might now get as much as he could. This somewhat nettled the lad, and setting his wits to work, he remembered having read of the power of certain acids to dissolve metals. Young Hatchett accordingly purchased what he thought would suit his purpose, and applying it to the lock of the cupboard, gained an entrance, and carried off in triumph the pot of jam.

On the 24th of March, 1786, when just one-and-twenty, Mr. Hatchett married the only daughter of Mr. John Collick, of Saint Martin's Lane, and shortly afterwards, in company with his wife, visited Russia and Poland, where they remained for nearly two years. On returning to England, Mr. Hatchett established himself in a house at Hammersmith, which he fitted with an excellent laboratory, so as to be able to pursue his chemical studies. On the 9th of March, 1807, he was elected into the Royal Society, his first paper having appeared in their 'Transactions' in 1796; it was entitled, 'An Analysis of the Carinthian Molybdate of Lead, with Experiments on the Molybdic Acid; to which are added, some Experiments and Observations on the Decomposition of the Sulphate of Ammonia.' This paper was followed by fifteen others, on various subjects, exhibiting the extent and research of his chemical investigations. In one of these, published in 1802, and entitled an 'Analysis of a Mineral Substance from North America, containing a metal unknown,' Mr. Hatchett gives an account of his discovery of the metal Columbium.

During the later portion of his life, Mr. Hatchett was often called upon committees, whenever points of chemistry or other sciences were to be discussed. In 1818, he formed one of the commission, comprising amongst others Dr. Wollaston, Sir Joseph Banks, Sir William Congreve, Davies Gilbert, &c., appointed to authorize an inquiry into the best means of preventing the forgery of bank notes; he was also one of the chemists (consisting of Brande, Hatchett, Wollaston, and Young) who met at Sir Joseph Banks's house, to decide on the respective merits of Sir Humphry Davy and George Stephenson, in the matter of the safety-lamp.

Besides his scientific attainments, Hatchett possessed great conversational powers; he was good-humoured, full of drollery, and never at fault for some jocular or pleasant story, to amuse the company he might be with. At the Royal Society Club, of which he was a member, he was a great favourite, particularly with Sir Joseph Banks, who, after Dr. Johnson, used to call him a clubable man. Sir John Barrow gives the following anecdote:--That "one day, at the club, Hatchett amused us with the story of a dream, which he prefaced by saying that, although it was 'such stuff as dreams are made of,' it still contained a reality in its conclusion, which had very much distressed him. He dreamt that he had lost his way, but came to a dark and dismal-looking building, into which he passed through a forbidding sort of gate, opened by a black-looking porter, who closed it immediately after him. He walked on, and everywhere observed clumps of ill-looking people skirmishing and fighting, while a little beyond were other groups, weeping and in great distress; further on still were flames of fire. Beginning to think he had got into a very bad place, he endeavoured to retrace his steps and get out again; but the black doorkeeper refused to let him pass. A furious fight ensued, and he pummelled the negro-looking rascal, first with one fist and then with another. At length he was brought to his senses by a scream, which, to his dismay, proceeded from his poor wife, and he found that, instead of pummelling the black doorkeeper, he had given Mrs. Hatchett a black eye."

In 1809, Mr. Hatchett was elected one of the chosen few of the Literary Club, originally instituted by Dr. Johnson and Sir Joshua Reynolds; and on the death of Dr. Burney, in 1829, was appointed to the chief official station of treasurer to the club.

In 1810 he took up his residence at Belle Vue House, Chelsea, where he continued for the remainder of his life, which terminated in 1847, Mr. Hatchett having then attained the advanced age of eighty-two.--_Sketches of the Royal Society and Royal Society Club, by Sir John Barrow, Bart., F.R.S._ London, 1849.

WILLIAM HENRY, M.D., F.R.S., &c.

Born December 12, 1774. Died September 2, 1836.