Hardly has any one cultivated the science of chemistry with more brilliant success than the inventor of the safety-lamp, who, even in his earliest days, occupied his attention with those pursuits that led to his great fame, and entitled him to the everlasting gratitude of posterity.

Davy was born on the 17th of December, 1788, at Penzance, in Cornwall, where the trade of a carver in wood was carried on by his father, many specimens of whose workmanship are still to be seen in the vicinity. His forefathers had for a long period been in possession of a small property in the neighbourhood, and it does not appear that this great and accomplished man was reared or educated in anything like poverty or want — so apt" to cloud young genius brightening into day."

He was placed at a preparatory school, and soon gave indication of his extraordinary talents, by the facility with which he could give an account of the contents of any book he read. His most prominent juvenile trait is stated to have been a propensity to shut himself up in his room, and arrange the furniture for an audience, which he found in his schoolfellows, to whom he would deliver something like a lecture. He showed, even then, some taste for chemical pursuits, and, besides, indulged in the composition of romances, wrote verses, and acted in a play got up by himself; thus exhibiting something of that turn for diversified acquirements which distinguished him in mature manhood He was next entered at the grammar-school of the little town; and, on removal from it, sent to finish his education under the auspices of a clergyman at Truro, who discerned his striking powers, and encouraged his taste for poetry. On the occasion of his family leaving Penzance to reside at Versall, he was left at Truro. The distance between the two places is about two miles and a half, through a country presenting a beautiful specimen of Cornish scenery. He was in the habit of making the little journey on the back of a pony or on foot, and, as soon as he was able to handle a fishing-rod, he indulged in piscatory recreations, in connexion with which he published his "Salmonia," a treatise on angling, a year before his death. At other times he roamed over the adjoining district, seeking for sport with his gun, and. no doubt, also meditating on subjects connected with those great discoveries for which the world is indebted to him. The locality was particularly well calculated to give his mind the scientific direction which it took at so early an age. "How often," said he to a friend, in after years, as he gazed on a picture of one of the mines in his native district,—" How often when a boy have I wandered about these rocks in search after new minerals; and, when tired, sat down upon these crags, and exercised my fancy in anticipation of future renown." Nor was it long in coming.

He cultivated a little garden of his own with great care, and took delight in collecting and painting birds and fishes. Thus passed the time till his sixteenth year, when he had the misfortune to lose his father; but his other parent survived to witness, with proud satisfaction, his day of youthful greatness. In the course of next year he became the apprentice of a Penzance apothecary, and while in his employment underwent an extraordinary amount of study on subjects connected with the medical profession, besides mathematics, languages, history, and science. He spent much time experimenting in the garret of his master's house, which, with no small danger to the lives of the inhabitants, he turned into a laboratory, furnishing it with apparatus from the shop and kitchen. His first original experiment is stated to have been made "in order to ascertain whether, as land vegetables are the renovators of the atmosphere of land animals, sea vegetables might not be the preservers of the equilibrium of the atmosphere of the ocean." His instruments were, as may be conceived, of the rudest description; but the contents of a case of surgical instruments, presented to him by the master of a French vessel wrecked on the coast, were eagerly and ingeniously turned to account in the experiments which his keen geniu9 prompted him to make on heat, without guidance or instruction from any one. His progress, meantime, in medical studies is said to have been so rapid, that he soon grew desirous of pursuing them in more advantageous circumstances. While he was pondering the pro-priety of going to study regularly for the profession in Edinburgh, Mr. Gregory Watt, who had come to the vicinity for the benefit of his health, being well versed in science, directed his researches in regard to chemistry in such a manner as to quicken his ardent diligence; and one day, when leaning oh a gate, he fortunately made the acquaintance of MrGilbert, who, being struck with his acquirements, was kind enough to show him a quantity of chemical apparatus, such as he had previously known only through the medium of books, or in dreams and visions of the night. Subsequently he was appointed by Dr. Beddoes to the superintendence of the Pneumatic Institution at Bristol, for investigating the medical properties of gases. While thus situated, he conducted experiments fraught with the most important results, and published an account of chemical and philosophical researches, which made so great a sensation in the scientific world, and raised his fame so highly, that he was soon after called to the chemical chair of the Royal Institution. In 1803 he was elected a member of the Royal Society; he was knighted in 1812, and created a baronet in 1820, having, three years before, given the safety-lamp to the world. In 1820 he became an Associate of the Royal Academy of Sciences at Paris, and, on the death of Sir Joseph Banks, was raised to the presidency of the Royal Society. From the latter position he was obliged, by ill health, to retire, and having betaken himself to the Continent, he died at Geneva, on the 30th of May, 1829.

The labour and assiduity he employed in cultivating the talent with which Providence had blessed him, and the industry with which he applied himself to the promotion of his favourite science, are eminently worthy of respect and imitation; and the fame which gathers around his name may well incite the aspiring youth to emulate his perseverance, and follow in his illustrious steps.