Louis Pasteur

12 LOUIS PASTEUR
awarded to Humphry Davy in 1807. Again in the course of the
war ? in 1813, he granted Davy permission to visit the volcanoes
of Auvergne and the English party was honored and entertained
by the French chemists and by the court, despite Davy's rudeness
and arrogance. This trip, be it said in passing, was of considerable
moment for the history
of
chemistry,
since on that occasion Faraday
began his apprenticeship with Davy, and the latter received
from conversations with Ampere information that led him to the
discovery of iodine.
The welcome granted by France to Humphry Davy in the
midst of the war with England was a striking manifestation of that
respect for culture and knowledge which transcended national
rivalries during the early nineteenth century. It reflects also the
glamour of the English chemist, who had achieved fame not only
by his spectacular discoveries the electrolysis of water, the
preparation of sodium and potassium, the chemistry of nitrous
oxide and the anesthetic effect of this
gas
- but also by his genius
as an exponent of science. In 1802 Davy had become professor
of chemistry in the Royal Institution. It had been founded in
1799 with the object of "diffusing knowledge and facilitating the
general and speedy introduction of new and useful mechanical
inventions and improvements; and also for teaching, by regular
courses of philosophical lectures and experiments, the applica-
tions of the new discoveries in science to the improvement of arts
and manufactures." Although Davy devoted much care to the
preparation of his lectures and demonstrations, he composed them
only a few hours in advance, thus achieving in his presentation
the immediacy of journalism. His rapidity of comprehension and
performance appeared to the public as pure intuition and conformed
to the popular idea of
genius. The success of his lectures
increased from year to year, and soon established him in the
fashionable life of London. His audience at the theater of the
Royal Institution was close to one thousand, and included many
of the celebrities of the time, among them Coleridge, who attended
regularly
in the hope of
increasing his stock of
literary
metaphors.