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 Contents vii

7 Problem Solving   195

7.1 Introduction 195
7.2 Analytic and Creative Problem Solving 195
7.3 Analytic Problem Solving 198
7.4 Creative Problem Solving 205
7.5 Personal Problem-Solving Styles 214
7.6 Brainstorming Strategies 219
7.7 Critical Thinking 225
REFERENCES 227
EXERCISES AND ACTIVITIES 227

8 Graphics and Orthographic Projection 235

8.1 Introduction 235
8.2 Orthographic Projection 235
8.3 The Meaning of Lines 238
8.4 Hidden Lines 241
8.5 Cylindrical Features and Radii 242
8.6 Line Precedence 243
8.7 Freehand Sketching 244
8.8 Pictorial Sketching 245
8.9 Dimensioning 252
8.10 Scales and Measuring 254
8.11 Coordinate Systems and Three-Dimensional Space 257
EXERCISES AND ACTIVITIES 258

9 Computer Tools for Engineers 263

9.1 Introduction 263
9.2 The Internet 264
9.3 Word-Processing Programs 271
9.4 Spreadsheets 272
9.5 Mathematics Software 276
9.6 Presentation Software 284
9.7 Operating Systems 285
9.8 Programming Languages 285
9.9 Advanced Engineering Packages 287
REFERENCES 292
EXERCISES AND ACTIVITIES 293

10 Teamwork 297
10.1 Introduction 297
10.2 Engineers Often Work in Teams 297
10.3 Team Organizational Structures 303
10.4 Team Growth Stages 304
10.5 What Makes a Successful Team? 307

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 viii Contents

10.6 Team Leadership 309

10.7 Effective Decision Making 311
10.8 Attitudes Toward Team Experiences 314
10.9 Documenting Team Performance 315
REFERENCES 316
EXERCISES AND ACTIVITIES 317

11 Project Management 319

11.1 Introduction 319
11.2 The Triple Constraints 320
11.3 Student Example Project 321
11.4 Creating a Project Charter 322
11.5 Task Definitions 323
11.6 Schedule 324
11.7 Work Breakdown Structure 326
11.8 Network Diagrams 328
11.9 Critical Paths 330
11.10 Gantt Charts 330
11.11 Costs 332
11.12 Personnel Distribution 332
11.13 Documentation 333
11.14 Team Roles 333
11.15 Agile Project Management 335
REFERENCES 336
EXERCISES AND ACTIVITIES 336

12 Engineering Design 339

12.1 What Is Engineering Design? 339
12.2 The Engineering Design Process 341
12.3 Using the Engineering Design Process—ATM 352
12.4 Using the Engineering Design Process—Backpack 363
REFERENCES 369
EXERCISES AND ACTIVITIES 370

13 Technical Communications 373

13.1 Visual Communication 374
13.2 Oral Presentations 378
13.3 Written Documents 390
13.4 Revising and Editing 398
13.5 Conclusion 400
REFERENCES 400
EXERCISES AND ACTIVITIES 400

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 Contents ix

14 Ethics and Engineering 403

14.1 Introduction 403
14.2 The Nature of Ethics 404
14.3 The Nature of Engineering Ethics   414
14.4 Codes of Ethics and the Obligations of Engineers 419
EXERCISES AND ACTIVITIES 436

T H E FU N DA M EN TA L S O F EN GI N EER I N G
15 Units and Conversions 441
15.1 History 441
15.2 The SI System of Units 442
15.3 Derived Units 444
15.4 Prefixes 446
15.5 Numerals 447
15.6 Unit Conversions 448
15.7 Dimensional Homogeneity and Dimensionless Numbers 450
REFERENCES 453
EXERCISES AND ACTIVITIES 453

16 Mathematics Review 457

16.1 Algebra 457
16.2 Trigonometry 461
16.3 Geometry 464
16.4 Complex Numbers 468
16.5 Linear Algebra   471
16.6 Calculus 476
16.7 Probability and Statistics 481
EXERCISES AND ACTIVITIES 485

17 Engineering Fundamentals 493

17.1 Statics 493
17.2 Dynamics 500
17.3 Thermodynamics 506
17.4 Electrical Circuits 516
17.5 Economics 524
EXERCISES AND ACTIVITIES 533

18 The Campus Experience 551

18.1 Orienting Yourself to Your Campus 551
18.2 Exploring Your New Home Away from Home 551

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 x Contents

18.3 Determining and Planning Your Major 552

18.4 Get into the Habit of Asking Questions 552
18.5 The “People Issue” 553
18.6 Searching for Campus Resources   554
18.7 Other Important Issues 556
18.8 Final Thoughts 561
REFERENCES 561
EXERCISES AND ACTIVITIES 562

19 Engineering Work Experience 565

19.1 A Job and Experience 565
19.2 Summer Jobs and On- and Off-Campus Work Experiences 567
19.3 Volunteer or Community Service Experiences 568
19.4 Supervised Independent Study or Research Assistantship 568
19.5 Internships 569
19.6 Cooperative Education 570
19.7 Which Is Best for You? 576
EXERCISES AND ACTIVITIES 576

20 Connections: Liberal Arts and Engineering 579

20.1 What Are Connections? 579
20.2 Why Study Liberal Arts? 580
EXERCISES AND ACTIVITIES 584

Appendix A Nine Excel Skills Every Engineering Student Should Know 585
Appendix B Impress Them: How to Make Presentations Effective 605
Appendix C An Introduction to MATLAB 619

Index 645

00-Oakes-FM.indd 10 19/11/16 3:09 PM

 Preface

You can’t make an educated decision about what career to pursue without adequate
information. Engineering Your Future endeavors to give you a broad introduction to
the study and practice of engineering. In addition to presenting vital information,
we’ve tried to make it interesting and easy to read as well.
You might find Chapter 2, “Engineering Majors,” to be a tremendous help to you in
determining what areas of engineering sound most appealing to you as you begin
your education. Our “Profiles of Engineers”, available on the Companion Website,
may also be of particular interest to you. It includes information from real people—
engineers practicing in the field. They discuss their jobs, their lives, and the things
they wish they had known going into the profession.
The rest of the book presents such things as the heritage of engineering; some
thoughts about the future of the profession; some tips on how best to succeed in the
classroom; advice on how to gain actual, hands-on experience; exposure to
computer-aided design; and a nice introduction to several areas essential to the study
and practice of engineering.
We have designed this book for modular use in a first-year engineering course that
introduces students to the field of engineering. Such a course differs in content from
university to university. Consequently, we have included many topics, too numerous
to cover in one course. We anticipate that several of the topics will be selected for a
particular course with the remaining topics available to you for outside reading and
for future reference.
As you contemplate engineering, you should consider the dramatic impact
engineers have had on our world. Note the eloquent words of American Association of
Engineering Societies Chair Martha Sloan, a professor emeritus of electrical
engineering at Michigan Technological University:

In an age when technology helps turn fantasy and fiction into reality, engineers
have played a pivotal role in developing the technologies that maintain our
nation’s economic, environmental and national security. They revolutionized
medicine with pacemakers and MRI scanners. They changed the world with the
development of television and the transistor, computers and the Internet. They
introduced new concepts in transportation, power, satellite communications,

xi

00-Oakes-FM.indd 11 19/11/16 3:09 PM

 xii Preface

earthquake-resistant buildings, and strain-resistant crops by applying scientific

discoveries to human needs.
Engineering is sometimes thought of as applied science, but engineering is far
more. The essence of engineering is design and making things happen for the
benefit of humanity.

Joseph Bordogna, former president of IEEE, adds:

Engineering will be one of the most significant forces in designing continued eco-
nomic development and success for humankind in a manner that will sustain
both the planet and its growing population. Engineers will develop the new pro-
cesses and products. They will create and manage new systems for civil infrastruc-
ture, manufacturing, communications, health care delivery, information
management, environmental conservation and monitoring, and everything else
that makes modern society function.

We hope that you, too, will find the field of engineering to be attractive, meaning-
ful, and exciting—one that promises to be both challenging and rewarding, and one
that matches well with your skills and interests.
For the instructor’s convenience, there is an Ancillary Resource Center site with
support materials (PowerPoint figure slides and a test bank). This material may be
found at http://oup-arc.com/oakes-engineering-9e/.

New to the Ninth Comprehensive Edition

■■ Chapter 1 “The Heritage of Engineering” replaces “The History of Engineering.”

This chapter was rewritten to move away from chronicling historical engineering
achievements to describe engineering as a profession that has impacted so much
of our daily lives and to appreciate the rich and inclusive heritage of engineering
and engineers that contributed to what we see today. Diverse examples are used
to discuss themes of the heritage of engineering that span genders and cultures
with some discussion of the historical contexts to prompt ideas and allow for
further research and discussions. Themes that are discussed include how
engineers are making the world a better place and improving the human
condition as well as the importance of teamwork and communication now and
historically.
■■ Chapter 2, “Engineering Majors,” was updated to reflect current technological
advances, especially in the computer, electrical, and biological areas. Mobile
computing is discussed as an example. Nanotechnology and its influence have
also been reflected in the descriptions of the majors.
■■ Chapter 3, “A Statistical Profile of the Engineering Profession,” provides the latest
available data on the job market for engineers, recent starting salaries for the

00-Oakes-FM.indd 12 19/11/16 3:09 PM

 Preface xiii

different majors, and a variety of related information. This material includes

updated college enrollment data trends, number of degrees awarded for the various
engineering majors, and career-long projections of salaries by employer size and
type, field of study, and geographical region. Updated information is also provided
concerning the diversity of the profession, and engineering graduate school data.
■■ Chapter 5, “Future Challenges,” was updated to include a list and description of
the National Academy of Engineering’s Grand Challenges. These descriptions,
used with permission from the National Academy, are the result of the academy’s
study of the most significant technological challenges of the day. These have been
added to the existing chapter and can be used as a standalone section or as part
of the existing chapter.
■■ Previously called “Visualization and Graphics, Chapter 8 is now titled “Graphics
and Orthographic Projection” and has been rewritten to be more concise and
practical. The text has been refocused to concentrate on techniques applied by
working engineers.
■■ Chapter 10, “Teamwork,” has been completely updated with new examples and
material. The chapter uses real examples from today’s leading companies,
including Netflix, Boeing, Tesla Motors, and Google.
■■ Chapter 11, “Project Management,” has been completely rewritten with
significant new material added. A sample student project is introduced and
developed, showing how a project plan can be developed using project
management tools. The application of Microsoft Project software is
demonstrated.
■■ Chapter 12, “Engineering Design,” was revised to help students gain insight into
the more practical aspects of learning the engineering design process. The 10-stage
process has been reduced to a more manageable five stages and includes an open-
ended case study that can be used in the classroom as is or with modification.
■■ Chapter 14, “Ethics and Engineering,” has been rewritten with the goal of
introducing ethics to future professional engineers in a lively, more accessible
way. In addition to systematically introducing the vocabulary and concepts
needed to understand the nature of professional ethics and the difference
between ethics and policy, the chapter now more directly confronts and clarifies
some of the most common questions and confusions students have about ethics,
including where professional ethical obligations come from, why the ethical
obligations of engineers are not merely matters of subjective opinion and
personal conscience, and why codes of professional ethics must be understood
not as arbitrary lists of rules but rather as a reflection of rational, intuitive
requirements on the practice of a learned profession. These insights about the
nature of professional ethics are now also reinforced in the revised explanation
and analysis of existing codes of engineering ethics as well as in the review
questions.
■■ Chapter 15, “Units and Conversions,” includes expanded sections on significant
figures and unit conversion along with numerical examples. A new section on
dimensionless numbers has been added. Several problems regarding
dimensionless numbers have been added to the end-of-chapter problems.

00-Oakes-FM.indd 13 19/11/16 3:09 PM

 xiv Preface

■■ Chapter 16, “Mathematics Review,” presents brief yet concise reviews of many of
the mathematical concepts students will encounter in their engineering studies.
Improvements to previous editions include “in line expansion” of select example
problems, additional help with vector math, and a unit circle to accompany the
trigonometry section of the chapter.
■■ Chapter 17, “Engineering Fundamentals,” provides a review of specific math and
science applications that are fundamental to engineering studies. Select example
problems in this chapter also have more detailed “in line expansion” of solutions,
designed to encourage good problem-solving skills and problem documentation.
Included also in the revised chapter is a brief review of partial pressures in the
thermodynamics section.
■■ Appendix A, “Nine Excel Skills Every Engineering Student Should Know,” While
the number of skills is retained, the skills themselves have been completely
revised. Instead of focusing on “which button to click,” the skills are now
presented in a way that promotes everyday application as well as lifelong
learning.
■■ Appendix B, “Impress Them: How to Make Presentations Effective,” Given a
complete overhaul, this appendix now offers guidelines for making a powerful
presentation that will leave a lasting impression on the audience. The makeup of
a presentation is dissected, and plenty of good and bad examples are included.
■■ Appendix C, “An Introduction to MATLAB,” The programming section has been
significantly expanded. Learning to code is an art, and making an efficient and
elegant code is a lifelong pursuit—with this appendix serving as a starting point.

Acknowledgments

The authors are especially grateful to the reviewers whose opinions and comments
directly influenced the development of this edition:

Anil Acharya, Alabama A&M University

Spyros Andreou, Savannah State University
Asad Azemi, Penn State University
Jerome Davis, University of North Texas
Chris Geiger, Florida Gulf Coast University
Nolides Guzman Zambrano, Lone Star College
Dr. Dominic M. Halsmer, Oral Roberts University
Todd Hamrick, West Virginia University
Matthew Jensen, Florida Institute of Technology
Benjamin S. Kelley, Baylor University
Mark Keshtvarz, Northern Kentucky University
Dr. Raghava R. Kommalapati, Prairie View A&M University
Tanya Kunberger, Florida Gulf Coast University
Andre Lau, Penn State University

00-Oakes-FM.indd 14 19/11/16 3:09 PM

 Preface xv

Dean Lewis, Penn State University

Jennifer Light, Lewis-Clark State College
Dr. James McCusker, Wentworth Institute of Technology
Deepak Mehra, Potomac State College
Christopher Miller, University of Akron
Melodee Moore, Florida A&M University
Ahad Nasab, Middle Tennessee State University
Herbert Newman, Coastal Carolina University
Dr. John H. O’Haver, University of Mississippi
Olayinka Frank Oredeko, Central Georgia Technical College
Reginald Perry, FAMU-FSU College of Engineering
Cherish Qualls, University of North Texas
James Rantschler, Xavier University of Louisiana
Dr. Farhad Reza, Minnesota State University
Bernd F. Schliemann, University of Massachusetts at Amherst
Gary Scott, State of University of New York
Yeow Siow, Purdue University at Calumet
Yiheng Wang, Lone Star College

We would also like to thank those reviewers who provided feedback for previous
editions:

Spyros Andreou, Savannah State University

Juan M. Caicedo, University of South Carolina
Matthew Cavalli, University of North Dakota
Rafael Fox, Texas A&M University–Corpus Christi
Keith Gardiner, Lehigh University
Chris Geiger, Florida Gulf Coast University
Yoon Kim, Virginia State University
Nikki Larson, Western Washington University
Keith Level, Las Positas College
Jennifer Light, Lewis-Clark State College
S. T. Mau, California State University at Northridge
Edgar Herbert Newman, Coastal Carolina University
John Nicklow, Southern Illinois University at Carbondale
Megan Piccus, Springfield Technical Community College
Charles E. Pierce, University of South Carolina
G. Albert Popson, Jr., West Virginia Wesleyan College
Ken Reid, Ohio Northern University
Nikki Strader, Ohio State University
Yiheng Wang, Danville Community College
Gregory Wight, Norwich University
David Willis, University of Massachusetts at Lowell
Shuming Zheng, Chicago State University
—The Authors

00-Oakes-FM.indd 15 19/11/16 3:09 PM

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 CHA P TER 1

The Heritage of Engineering

While writing this chapter, I was teaching a class over the Internet to engineering
professors in India. The class was about how to integrate design experiences
­(addressing needs of underserved people and communities) into undergraduate en-
gineering courses. I was excited when I finished that day’s class as we had had a
great conversation about how we can use engineering to meet human, community,
and environmental needs in India and the United States. The same ideas could
be ­applied to any country to make our world a better place. Today’s technology has
opened so many opportunities to make an impact in our communities, our coun-
tries, and our world. I ended the class thinking that this is really an exciting time to
be an engineer or an engineering student—with all of the technological tools we
have at our disposal and the exciting things we can do with them.
As I ended the class, I looked outside at the first snowfall of the year. Because of the
time difference between India and the United States, I have to teach the class very
early in the morning, so the sun was just coming up. The beautiful sunrise with the
falling snow got me thinking. I had just been talking with about 40 colleagues who
were literally on the other side of the world and spread out all over their country.
I was in Indiana, and our course facilitator was from Massachusetts. The incredible
technology that allowed us to discuss how to use technology to make a difference in
the world was created by engineers who had come before us. A generation ago, we
would have had to make a very expensive phone call to have that discussion. Earlier
generations would have had to communicate with letters on actual paper that were
physically carried from one place to the next. Technology has significantly changed
the way we communicate, as well as so many other parts of our lives. Those changes
were created and driven by engineers who started out a lot like you.
As I sat there in the warm house and watched the snow, I began to think about all
of the other ways that engineers have impacted us. The materials to make the house
to keep me warm were developed by engineers. The house is heated with an
­ultra-high-efficiency furnace that also protects the environment. The natural gas
burning in the furnace was found, extracted, refined, and piped to the house using
technology developed by engineers. The lights in the house were developed by engi-
neers. The appliances in the house all have computers to make them more efficient
and easier to use. Everywhere I looked I saw something that had been touched by
engineers . . . with the exception of the snowflakes falling outside, of course.

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 2 The World of Engineering

There are so many engineers who have made an impact in our daily lives, and
they came from many different places and backgrounds. I thought about them as I
moved through the day. I had to pick up my daughter from a friend’s house, and I
was grateful for Mary Anderson, who had invented the windshield wiper to clear the
snow from my car’s windshield. When I got to the first intersection, I thought about
Garrett Morgan, the African American inventor who developed the traffic light to
keep us safe on the roads. I was grateful for the computer and electrical engineers
who developed the technology in my hearing aids that allow me to have a conversa-
tion with my daughter when I picked her up.

1.1 Introduction

The impact of engineers on our everyday lives is incredible. Even our life expectancies
are so much higher in large parts due to the technologies that engineers have devel-
oped to provide safe drinking water, sanitation, accessible medicines, and much
more. Engineers have made an enormous impact on our world, and there are so many
opportunities yet to come. Today’s technology has given us the tools to address needs
and opportunities to make a difference in our world.
The purpose of this first chapter is to give you a sense of the strong heritage of the
engineering profession. We will provide a brief glimpse into some of those who have
come before you and a feeling of the incredibly exciting profession you are exploring.
This is not meant to be a comprehensive overview of the history of engineering, as
that would be a book in itself. Instead we use history to illustrate some of the diversity
and wondrous heritage of the engineering profession and highlight a few of the men
and women who have developed the amazing world of technology we live in today.

Definition of Engineering

Even if you already have a general knowledge of what engineering involves, a look at
the definition of the profession may give you some insight. The organization that ac-
credits engineering programs is called ABET, and they define engineering as:

The profession in which knowledge of the mathematical and natural sciences,

gained by study, experience, and practice, is applied with judgment to develop
ways to use, economically, the materials and forces of nature for the benefit of
mankind.

This definition places three responsibilities on an engineer: (1) to develop judg-

ment so that you can (2) help mankind in (3) economical ways. It places obligations on
us to address needs that benefit others and to make sure we don’t do harm. We seek to
provide economical solutions because if they are too expensive, they are out of reach
of people. Looking at case histories and historical overviews can help us see how

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 Chapter 1 The Heritage of Engineering 3

others have applied these principles before us and understand more about the profes-
sion we are entering. Study of history can also give us a sense of belonging to the
profession. There are engineers who come from the very kind of background you
come from and look a lot like you—or did when they were your age.
Definitions are important, but they don’t always inspire. The National Academy of
Engineering is a body of outstanding engineers who advise the federal government
on matters pertaining to engineering and technology. One has to be nominated and
invited to become a member of the national academy. This body studied the percep-
tions of engineering and engineers in the United States and came to the conclusion
that most people do not understand who we are and what great things we could do.
They produced a report entitled Changing the Conversation to help us communicate
the potential of engineering. Part of that report includes a positioning statement to
help guide our conversations. It reads,

No profession unleashes the spirit of innovation like engineering. From research

to real-world applications, engineers constantly discover how to improve our lives
by creating bold new solutions that connect science to life in unexpected, for-
ward-thinking ways. Few professions turn so many ideas into so many realities.
Few have such a direct and positive effect on people’s everyday lives. We are count-
ing on engineers and their imaginations to help us meet the needs of the 21st
century.

We need this positioning statement because engineers and engineering are often
misunderstood as a field. The contributions of engineers are not always seen, under-
stood, or appreciated. As illustration, I think of a class I teach that engages about
500 students per semester in designs to meet community needs locally and globally.
The students work together to develop designs, and they work with community part-
ners. I often hear them describe themselves as “not a typical engineer.” They like to
work with others, have a social life, and want to make a difference in the world. I love
that attitude, and I do wonder how I have 500 students who view themselves as “not
typical.” At least in our class they are typical and are very much more typical of engi-
neers and the overall engineering profession, what it is and what is should be. It may
not match the stereotypes, but it does match the heritage we have as engineers. We
have a strong knowledge of math, science, and technology and have to work with
many others to create solutions that can improve the human and environmental con-
ditions. It takes many different people to do that, and it always has and always will.
The following sections will explore history with examples of some of these diverse
engineers who were real people who have helped make the world a better place.

1.2 The Beginnings of Engineering: The Earliest Days

The foundations of engineering were laid with our ancestors’ efforts to survive and to
improve their quality of life. From the beginning, they looked around their environ-
ments and saw areas where life could be made easier and more stable. They found

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 4 The World of Engineering

improved ways to provide for food, through hunting and fishing. They discovered
better methods for providing shelter for their families and ways to make clothing.
Their main physical concern was day-to-day survival. As life became more compli-
cated and small collections of families became larger communities, the need grew to
look into new areas of concern and specialization.
If you look back at the definition of engineering given by ABET, you will notice a
statement: “The profession in which knowledge of the mathematical and natural
­sciences . . . is applied.” Prehistoric engineers applied problem solving and toolmak-
ing but did not have a grasp of the same mathematical principles or knowledge of
natural science as we know it today. They designed and built items more by trial and
error, testing, and intuition. They built spears that worked and others that failed, but
in the end they perfected weapons that allowed them to bring down game animals
and feed their families. Although they couldn’t describe it, they used principles of
aerodynamics and mechanical advantage to develop more efficient tools to hunt.
Since written communication and transportation did not exist at that time, little
information or innovation was exchanged with people from faraway places. Each
group around the world moved ahead on its own. It is inspiring to see how people
from all over the world developed innovations to improve the quality of life for their
families and their communities.
Transportation was another area where early engineers made an impact. The de-
signs of early boats, for example, inspire even today’s engineers. Breakthroughs in
transportation and exploration are being located ever earlier as we continue to make
discoveries about various peoples traveling long before we thought they did—­
influencing others and bringing back knowledge. Transportation was used to hunt
and fish, to move families, and to explore new areas. Polynesian boat designers, for
example, developed crafts that could sail great distances and allowed people to settle
many of the islands across the Pacific. Their use of mathematics and astronomy al-
lowed them to navigate great distances on their vessels that were designed for long
ocean voyages. Their vessels are still an engineering marvel today.

AC TIVIT Y Prepare a brief report that focuses on engineering in a historical era and
1.1 cultural area (for example, pre-Columbian Central America, Europe in the
Industrial Revolution, Mesopotamia). Analyze the events that you consider to
be engineering highlights and explain their importance to human progress.

1.3 Early Cities

As cities grew and the need to address the demands of the new fledgling societies in-
creased, a significant change took place. People who showed special aptitude in cer-
tain areas were identified and assigned to ever more specialized tasks. This
development gave toolmakers the time and resources to dedicate themselves to

01-Oakes-Chap01.indd 4 19/11/16 3:50 PM

 Chapter 1 The Heritage of Engineering 5

building and innovation. This new social function created the first real engineers,
and innovation flourished more rapidly.
Between 4000 and 2000 b.c., Egypt in Africa and Mesopotamia in the Middle East
were two areas for early engineering activity. Stone tools were developed to help
humans in their quest for food. Copper and bronze axes were perfected through smelt-
ing. These developments were not only aimed at hunting: The development of the plow
was allowing humans to become farmers so that they could reside in one place and give
up the nomadic life. Mesopotamia also made its mark on engineering by giving birth to
the wheel, the sailing boat, and methods of writing. Engineering skills that were ap-
plied to the development of everyday items immediately improved life as they knew it.
During the construction of the pyramids (c. 2700–2500 b.c.) the number of engi-
neers required was immense. They had to make sure that everything fit correctly, that
stones were properly transported long distances, and that the tombs would be secure
against robbery. Imhotep (chief engineer to King Zoser) was building the Step
­P yramid at Sakkara (pictured in Fig. 1.1) in Egypt about 2700 b.c. The more elaborate
Great Pyramid of Khufu (pictured in Fig. 1.2) would come about 200 years later. These
early engineers, using simple tools, performed, with great acuity, insight, and techni-
cal rigor, tasks that even today give us a sense of pride in their achievements.
The Great Pyramid of Khufu is the largest masonry structure ever built. Its base
measures 756 feet on each side. The 480-foot structure was constructed using over
2.3 million limestone blocks with a total weight of over 58 million tons. Casing blocks

Figure 1.1 The Step Pyramid of Sakkara

Source: © iStockPhoto

01-Oakes-Chap01.indd 5 19/11/16 3:50 PM

 6 The World of Engineering

Figure 1.2 The Great Pyramid of Khufu

Source: © iStockPhoto

of fine limestone were attached to all four sides. These casing stones, some weighing
as much as 15 tons, have been removed over the centuries for a wide variety of other
uses. It is hard for us to imagine the engineering expertise needed to quarry and move
these base and casing stones, and then piece them together so that they would form
the pyramid and its covering.
Here are additional details about this pyramid given by Roland Turner and Steven
Goulden in Great Engineers and Pioneers in Technology, Volume 1: From Antiquity
through the Industrial Revolution:

Buried within the pyramid are passageways leading to a number of funeral cham-
bers, only one of which was actually used to house Khufu’s remains. The gran-
ite-lined King’s Chamber, measuring 17 by 34 feet, is roofed with nine slabs of
granite which weigh 50 tons each. To relieve the weight on this roof, located 300
feet below the apex of the pyramid, the builder stacked five hollow chambers at
short intervals above it. Four of the relieving chambers are roofed with granite
lintels, while the topmost has a corbelled roof. Although somewhat rough and
ready in design and execution, the system effectively distributes the massive over-
lying weight to the sturdy walls of the King’s Chamber.
Sheer precision marks every other aspect of the pyramid’s construction. The
four sides of the base are practically identical in length—the error is a matter of

01-Oakes-Chap01.indd 6 19/11/16 3:50 PM

 Chapter 1 The Heritage of Engineering 7

inches—and the angles are equally accurate. Direct measurement from corner to
corner must have been difficult, since the pyramid was built on the site of a rocky
knoll (now completely enclosed in the structure). Moreover, it is an open question
how the builder managed to align the pyramid almost exactly north-south. Still,
many of the techniques used for raising the pyramid can be deduced.
After the base and every successive course was in place, it was leveled by flood-
ing the surface with Nile water, no doubt retained by mud banks, and then mark-
ing reference points of equal depth to guide the final dressing. Complications were
caused by the use of blocks of different heights in the same course.

The above excerpt mentions a few of the fascinating details of the monumental job
undertaken to construct a pyramid with primitive tools and human labor. It was quite
a feat for these early African engineers.
As civilizations grew around the world, the need for infrastructure increased, and
it was the early civil engineers who met this challenge. Cities developed in many
places, including India, China, and the Americas. Early engineering achievements
can be seen even today in many places. For example, pyramids still stand in Latin
America as a testament to the skill and expertise of early Native American engineers.
Cities were constructed that included sophisticated infrastructure and building
techniques. One extraordinary example of ingenuity and skill that inspires many vis-
itors is the Incan city of Machu Picchu (Fig. 1.3) built on top of the Andes mountains
in Peru. Constructed in the 15th century at the height of the Inca Empire, it is an

Figure 1.3 Machu Picchu in present-day Peru

Source: Damian Gil/Shutterstock.com

01-Oakes-Chap01.indd 7 19/11/16 3:50 PM

 8 The World of Engineering

engineering marvel that used sophisticated techniques of dry-stone walls that fused
huge blocks without the use of mortar. The design of the city itself is based on astro-
nomical alignments that show mathematical and astronomical sophistication. The
site at the top of the mountains would have created significant engineering chal-
lenges, as well as providing for incredible panoramic views that can be enjoyed today.
Recreating that city would be a challenge even with today’s technology.

Engineering the Temples of Greece

The Parthenon (Fig. 1.4) was constructed by Iktinos in Athens starting in 447 b.c. and
was completed by 438 b.c. It is an extraordinary example of a religious temple.
­Engineers played a role in the religious aspects of societies all over the world. The
Parthenon was to be built on the foundation of a previous temple using materials sal-
vaged from its remains, making this an early example of recycling. The Parthenon
was designed to house a statue of Athena that stood almost 40 feet tall. Iktinos per-
formed the task that he was assigned, and the temple exists today as a monument to
engineering capability.
Structural work on the Parthenon enlarged the existing limestone platform of the
old temple to a width of 160 feet and a length of 360 feet. The building itself, constructed
entirely of marble, measured 101 feet by 228 feet; it was the largest such temple on the
Greek mainland. Around the body of the building Iktinos built a colonnade,

Figure 1.4 The Parthenon in Athens

Source: Rich Lynch/Shutterstock.com

01-Oakes-Chap01.indd 8 19/11/16 3:50 PM

 Chapter 1 The Heritage of Engineering 9

customary in Greek temple architecture. The bases of the columns were 6 feet in diam-
eter and were spaced 14 feet apart. Subtle harmonies were thus established, for these
distances were all in the ratio of 4:9. Moreover, the combined height of the columns
and entablatures (lintels) bore the same ratio to the width of the building.
Remember that this was the year 438 b.c. It would be a significant feat to replicate
the Parthenon today.

Aqueducts and Roads

As cities and populations grew, additional needs had to be met, including the delivery
of water. In Europe, the Romans developed sophisticated systems of aqueducts to de-
liver and distribute water into their cities. This was the work of early civil engineers who
were using mathematics and an early understanding of sciences. One such aqueduct is
shown in Figure 1.5. It is remarkable that these well-designed structures still stand.
Transportation, including the design and construction of roads, continues to be an
active area of study for civil engineers, and the Romans were among the first great
transportation engineers. Construction of the first great Roman road, the Appian

Figure 1.5 Roman aqueduct

Source: © iStockPhoto

01-Oakes-Chap01.indd 9 19/11/16 3:50 PM

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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HUMPHRY DAVY,

POET AND PHILOSOPHER ***
 THE CENTURY SCIENCE SERIES
Edited by SIR HENRY E. ROSCOE, D.C.L., LL.D., F.R.S.

HUMPHRY DAVY
POET AND PHILOSOPHER
 The Century Science
Series.
EDITED BY
SIR HENRY E. ROSCOE, D.C.L.,
F.R.S.

John Dalton and the Rise of Modern

Chemistry.
By Sir Henry E. Roscoe, F.R.S.
Major Rennell, F.R.S., and the Rise of
English Geography.
By Sir Clements R. Markham, C. B., F.R.S.,
President of the Royal Geographical Society.
Justus von Liebig: his Life and Work
(1803–1873).
By W. A. Shenstone, F.I.C., Lecturer on
Chemistry in Clifton College.
The Herschels and Modern Astronomy.
By Agnes M. Clerke, Author of “A Popular
History of Astronomy during the 19th
Century,” &c.
Charles Lyell and Modern Geology.
By Rev. Professor T. G. Bonney, F.R.S.
James Clerk Maxwell and Modern Physics.
By R. T. Glazebrook, F.R.S., Fellow of Trinity
College, Cambridge.
Humphry Davy, Poet and Philosopher. By
T. E. Thorpe, LL.D., F.R.S., Principal Chemist
of the Government Laboratories.
 In Preparation.
Michael Faraday: his Life and Work.
By Professor Silvanus P. Thompson, F.R.S.
Pasteur: his Life and Work.
By M. Armand Ruffer, M.D., Director of the
British Institute of Preventive Medicine.
Charles Darwin and the Origin of Species.
By Edward B. Poulton, M.A., F.R.S., Hope
Professor of Zoology in the University of
Oxford.
Hermann von Helmholtz.
By A. W. Rücker, F.R.S., Professor of Physics
in the Royal College of Science, London.

MACMILLAN & CO., Limited, New

York.
 H U M P H R Y D A V Y.
Æ TAT 4 5 .
(From a painting by Jackson)

THE CENTURY SCIENCE SERIES

 Humphry Davy
POET AND PHILOSOPHER

BY

T. E. THORPE, LL.D., F.R.S.

New York
MACMILLAN & C O ., Limited
1896
 PREFACE

For the details of Sir Humphry Davy’s personal history, as set forth
in this little book, I am mainly indebted to the well-known memoirs
by Dr. Paris and Dr. John Davy. As biographies, these works are of
very unequal value. To begin with, Dr. Paris is not unfrequently
inaccurate in his statements as to matters of fact, and disingenuous
in his inferences as to matters of conduct and opinion. The very
extravagance of his laudation suggests a doubt of his judgment or of
his sincerity, and this is strengthened by the too evident relish with
which he dwells upon the foibles and frailties of his subject. The
insincerity is reflected in the literary style of the narrative, which is
inflated and over-wrought. Sir Walter Scott, who knew Davy well and
who admired his genius and his many social gifts, characterised the
book as “ungentlemanly” in tone; and there is no doubt that it gave
pain to many of Davy’s friends who, like Scott, believed that justice
had not been done to his character.
Dr. Davy’s book, on the other hand, whilst perhaps too partial at
times—as might be expected from one who writes of a brother to
whom he was under great obligations, and for whom, it is evident,
he had the highest respect and affection—is written with candour,
and a sobriety of tone and a directness and simplicity of statement
far more effective than the stilted euphuistic periods of Dr. Paris,
even when he seeks to be most forcible. When, therefore, I have
had to deal with conflicting or inconsistent statements in the two
works on matters of fact, I have generally preferred to accept the
version of Dr. Davy, on the ground that he had access to sources of
information not available to Dr. Paris.
Davy played such a considerable part in the social and
intellectual world of London during the first quarter of the century
that, as might be expected, his name frequently occurs in the
personal memoirs and biographical literature of his time; and a
number of journals and diaries, such as those of Horner, Ticknor,
Henry Crabb Robinson, Lockhart, Maria Edgeworth, and others that
might be mentioned, make reference to him and his work, and
indicate what his contemporaries thought of his character and
achievements. Some of these references will be found in the
following pages. It will surprise many Londoners to know that they
owe the Zoological Gardens, in large measure, to a Professor of
Chemistry in Albemarle Street, and that the magnificent
establishment in the Cromwell Road, South Kensington, is the
outcome of the representations, unsuccessful for a time, which he
made to his brother trustees of the British Museum as to the place of
natural history in the national collections. Davy had a leading share
also in the foundation of the Athenæum Club, and was one of its
first trustees.
I am further under very special obligations to Dr. Humphry D.
Rolleston, the grand-nephew of Sir Humphry Davy, for much
valuable material, procured through the kind co-operation of Miss
Davy, the granddaughter of Dr. John Davy. This consisted of letters
from Priestley, Kirwan, Southey, Coleridge, Maria Edgeworth, Mrs.
Beddoes (Anna Edgeworth), Sir Joseph Banks, Gregory Watt, and
others; and, what is of especial interest to his biographer, a large
number of Davy’s own letters to his wife. In addition were papers
relating to the invention of the Safety Lamp. Some of the letters
have already been published by Dr. John Davy, but others now
appear in print for the first time. I am also indebted to Dr. Rolleston
for the loan of the portrait representing Davy in Court dress and in
the presidential chair of the Royal Society, which, reproduced in
photogravure, forms the frontispiece to this book. The original is a
small highly-finished work by Jackson, and was painted about 1823.
The picture originally belonged to Lady Davy, who refers to it in the
letter to Davies Gilbert (quoted by Weld in his “History of the Royal
Society”), in which she offers Lawrence’s well-known portrait to the
Society, and which, by the way, the Society nearly lost through the
subsequent action of the painter.
For the references to the early history of the Royal Institution I
am mainly indebted to Dr. Bence Jones’s book. I have, moreover, to
thank the Managers of the Institution for their kindness in giving me
permission to see the minutes of the early meetings, and also for
allowing me to consult the manuscripts and laboratory journals in
their possession. These include the original records of Davy’s work,
and also the notes taken by Faraday of his lectures. The Managers
have also allowed me to reproduce Miss Harriet Moore’s sketch—first
brought to my notice by Professor Dewar—of the chemical
laboratory of the Institution as it appeared in the time of Davy and
Faraday, and I have to thank them for the loan of Gillray’s
characteristic drawing of the Lecture Theatre, from which the
illustration on p. 70 has been prepared.
I have necessarily had to refer to the relations of Davy to
Faraday, and I trust I have said enough on that subject. Indeed, in
my opinion, more than enough has been said already. It is not
necessary to belittle Davy in order to exalt Faraday; and writers who,
like Dr. Paris, unmindful of George Herbert’s injunction, are prone to
adopt an antithetical style in biographical narrative have, I am
convinced, done Davy’s memory much harm.
I regret that the space at my command has not allowed me to
go into greater detail into the question of George Stephenson’s
relations to the invention of the safety lamp. I have had ample
material placed at my disposal for a discussion of the question, and I
am specially indebted to Mr. John Pattinson and the Council of the
Literary and Philosophical Society of Newcastle-upon-Tyne for their
kindness in lending me a rare, if not unique, collection of pamphlets
and reprints of newspaper articles which made their appearance
when the idea of offering Davy some proof of the value which the
coal owners entertained of his invention was first promulgated.
George Stephenson’s claims are not to be dismissed summarily as
pretensions. Indeed, his behaviour throughout the whole of the
controversy increases one’s respect for him as a man of integrity and
rectitude, conscious of what he thought due to himself, and showing
only a proper assurance in his own vindication. I venture to think,
however, that the conclusion to which I have arrived, and which,
from the exigencies of space, is, I fear, somewhat baldly stated, as
to the apportionment of the merit of this memorable invention, is
just and can be well established. Stephenson might possibly have hit
upon a safety lamp if he had been allowed to work out his own ideas
independently and by the purely empirical methods he adopted, and
it is conceivable that his lamp might have assumed its present form
without the intervention of Davy; but it is difficult to imagine that an
unlettered man, absolutely without knowledge of physical science,
could have discovered the philosophical principle upon which the
security of the lamp depends.
T. E. T.
May, 1896.
 CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE
I.—Penzance: 1778–1798 9

II.—The Pneumatic Institution, Bristol:

1798–1801 26

III.—The Pneumatic Institution, Bristol:

1798–1801 (continued) 54

IV.—The Royal Institution 66

V.—The Chemical Laboratory of the Royal

Institution 90

VI.—The Isolation of the Metals of the

Alkalis 110

VII.—Chlorine 134

VIII.—Marriage—Knighthood—“Elements of
Chemical Philosophy”—Nitrogen
Trichloride—Fluorine 155

IX.—Davy and Faraday—Iodine 173

X.—The Safety Lamp 192

XI.—Davy and the Royal Society—His Last
Days 213
 Humphry Davy,

POET AND PHILOSOPHER.

 CHAPTER I.

PENZANCE: 1778–1798.

Humphry Davy, the eldest son of “Carver” Robert Davy and his wife
A
Grace Millett, was born on the 17th December, 1778. His
biographers are not wholly agreed as to the exact place of his birth.
In the “Lives of Philosophers of the Time of George III.” Lord
Brougham states that the great chemist was born at Varfell, a
homestead or “town-place” in the parish of Ludgvan, in the Mount’s
Bay, where, as the registers and tombstones of Ludgvan Church
attest, the family had been settled for more than two hundred years.

A
In some biographical notices—e.g. in the
Gentleman’s Magazine, xcix. pt. ii. 9—the year is
given as 1779.

Mr. Tregellas, in his “Cornish Worthies” (vol. i., p. 247), also

leaves the place uncertain, hesitating, apparently, to decide between
Varfell and Penzance.
According to Dr. John Davy, his brother Humphry was born in
Market Jew Street, Penzance, in a house now pulled down, but
which was not far from the statue of him that stands in front of the
Market House of this town. Dr. Davy further states that Humphry’s
parents removed to Varfell some years after his birth, when he
himself was taken charge of by a Mr. Tonkin.
The Davys originally belonged to Norfolk. The first member of
the family that settled in Cornwall was believed to have acted as
steward to the Duke of Bolton, who in the time of Elizabeth had a
considerable property in the Mount’s Bay. They were, as a class,
respectable yeomen in fairly comfortable circumstances, who for
generations back had received a lettered education. They took to
themselves wives from the Eusticks, Adamses, Milletts, and other old
Cornish families, and, if we may credit the testimony of the
tombstones, had many virtues, were not overgiven to smuggling or
wrecking, and, for the most part, died in their own beds.
The grandfather of Humphry, Edmund Davy, was a builder of
repute in the west of Cornwall, who married well and left his eldest
son Robert, the father of the chemist, in possession of the small
copyhold property of Varfell, to which reference has already been
made. Robert, although a person of some capacity, seems to have
been shiftless, thriftless, and lax in habits. In his youth he had been
taught wood-carving, and specimens of his skill are still to be seen in
and about Penzance. But he practised his art in an irregular fashion,
his energies being mainly spent in field sports, in unsuccessful
experiments in farming, and in hazardous, and for the most part
fruitless, ventures in mining. At his death, which occurred when he
was forty-eight, his affairs were found to be sadly embarrassed; his
widow and five children were left in very straitened circumstances,
and Varfell had to be given up.
Fortunately for the children, the mother possessed the qualities
which the father lacked. Casting about for the means of bringing up
and educating her family, she opened a milliner’s shop in the town,
in partnership with a French lady who had fled to England during the
Revolution.
By prudence, good management, and the forbearance of
creditors, she not only succeeded in rearing and educating her
children, but gradually liquidated the whole of her husband’s debts.
Some years later, by an unexpected stroke of fortune, she was able
to relinquish her business. She lived to a good old age, cheerful and
serene, happy in the respect and affection of her children and in the
esteem and regard of her townspeople. Such a woman could not fail
to exercise a strong and lasting influence for good on her children.
That it powerfully affected the character of her son Humphry, he
would have been the first to admit. Nothing in him was more
remarkable or more beautiful than his strong and abiding love for his
mother. No matter how immersed he was in his own affairs, he could
always find time amidst the whirl and excitement of his London life,
amidst the worry and anxiety of official cares—or, when abroad,
among the peaks of the Noric Alps or the ruins of Italian cities—to
think of his far-away Cornish home and of her round whom it was
centred. To the last he opened out his heart to her as he did to none
other; she shared in all his aspirations, and lived with him through
his triumphs; and by her death, just a year before his own, she was
happily spared the knowledge of his physical decay and approaching
end.

* * * * *
Davy was about sixteen years of age when his father died. At
that time he was a bright, curly-haired, hazel-eyed lad, somewhat
narrow-chested and undergrown, awkward in manner and gait, but
keenly fond of out-door sport, and more distinguished for a love of
mischief than of learning.
Dr. Cardew, of the Truro Grammar School, where, by the
kindness of the Tonkins, he spent the year preceding his father’s
death, wrote of him that he did not at that time discover any
extraordinary abilities, or, so far as could be observed, any
propensity to those scientific pursuits which raised him to such
eminence. “His best exercises were translations from the classics
into English verse.” He had previously spent nine years in the
Penzance Grammar School under the tyranny of the Rev. Mr.
Coryton, a man of irregular habits and as deficient in good method
as in scholarship. As Davy used to come up for the customary
castigation, the worthy follower of Orbilius was wont to repeat—
“Now, Master Davy,
Now, sir! I have ’ee
No one shall save ’ee—
Good Master Davy!”

He had, too, an unpleasant habit of pulling the boys’ ears, on the

supposition, apparently, that their receptivity for oral instruction was
thereby stimulated. It is recorded that on one occasion Davy
appeared before him with a large plaster on each ear, explaining,
with a very grave face, that he had “put the plasters on to prevent
mortification.” Whence it may be inferred that, in spite of all the
caning and the ear-pulling, there was still much of the unregenerate
Adam left in “good Master Davy.”
Mr. Coryton’s method of inculcating knowledge and the love of
learning, happily, had no permanent ill-effect on the boy. Years
afterwards, when reflecting on his school-life, he wrote, in a letter to
his mother—

“After all, the way in which we are taught Latin and Greek
does not much influence the important structure of our
minds. I consider it fortunate that I was left much to myself
when a child, and put upon no particular plan of study, and
that I enjoyed much idleness at Mr. Coryton’s school. I
perhaps owe to these circumstances the little talents that I
have and their peculiar application.”

If Davy’s abilities were not perceived by his masters, they

seemed to have been fully recognised by his school-fellows—to
judge from the frequency with which they sought his aid in their
Latin compositions, and from the fact that half the love-sick youths
of Penzance employed him to write their valentines and letters. His
lively imagination, strong dramatic power, and retentive memory
combined to make him a good story-teller, and many an evening was
spent by his comrades beneath the balcony of the Star Inn, in
Market Jew Street, listening to his tales of wonder or horror,
gathered from the “Arabian Nights” or from his grandmother Davy, a
woman of fervid mind stored with traditions and ancient legends,
from whom he seems to have derived much of his poetic instinct.
Those who would search in environment for the conditions which
determine mental aptitudes, will find it very difficult to ascertain
what there was in Davy’s boyish life in Penzance to mould him into a
natural philosopher. At school he seems to have acquired nothing
beyond a smattering of elementary mathematics and a certain
facility in turning Latin into English verse. Most of what he obtained
in the way of general knowledge he picked up for himself, from such
books as he found in the library of his benefactor, Mr. John Tonkin.
Dr. John Davy has left us a sketch of the state of society in the
Mount’s Bay during the latter part of the eighteenth century, which
serves to show how unfavourable was the soil for the stimulation
and development of intellectual power. Cornwall at that time had but
little commerce; and beyond the tidings carried by pedlars or ship-
masters, or contained in the Sherborne Mercury—the only
newspaper which then circulated in the west of England—it knew
little or nothing of what was going on in the outer world. Its roads
were mostly mere bridle-paths, and a carriage was as little known in
Penzance as a camel. There was only one carpet in the town, the
floors of the rooms being, as a rule, sprinkled with sea-sand:—

“All classes were very superstitious; even the belief in

witches maintained its ground, and there was an almost
unbounded credulity respecting the supernatural and
monstrous.... Amongst the middle and higher classes there
was little taste for literature and still less for science, and their
pursuits were rarely of a dignified or intellectual kind.
Hunting, shooting, wrestling, cock-fighting, generally ending
in drunkenness, were what they most delighted in. Smuggling
was carried on to a great extent, and drunkenness and a low
scale of morals were naturally associated with it.”
 Davy, an ardent, impulsive youth of strong social instincts, fond
of excitement, and not over studious, seems, now that he was
released from the restraint of school-life, to have come under the
influence of such surroundings. For nearly a year he was restless
and unsettled, spending much of his time like his father in rambling
about the country and in fishing and shooting, and passing from
desultory study to occasional dissipation. The death of his father,
however, made a profound impression on his mind, and suddenly
changed the whole course of his conduct. As the eldest son, and
approaching manhood, he seems at once to have realised what was
due to his mother and to himself. The circumstances of the family
supplied the stimulus to exertion, and he dried his mother’s tears
with the assurance that he would do all in his power for his brothers
and sisters. A few weeks after the decease of his father he was
apprenticed to Mr. Bingham Borlase, an apothecary and surgeon
practising in Penzance, and at once marked out for himself a course
of study and self-tuition almost unparalleled in the annals of
biography, and to which he adhered with a strength of mind and
tenacity of purpose altogether unlooked for in one of his years and
of his gay and careless disposition. That it was sufficiently ambitious
will be evident from the following transcript from the opening pages
of his earliest note-book—a small quarto, with parchment covers,
dated 1795:—

1. Theology,
or Religion, } { taught by Nature;
Ethics or Moral virtues } { by Revelation.
2. Geography.
3. My Profession.
1. Botany.
2. Pharmacy.
3. Nosology.
4. Anatomy.
5. Surgery.
6. Chemistry.
 4. Logic.
5. Languages.
1. English.
2. French.
3. Latin.
4. Greek.
5. Italian.
6. Spanish.
7. Hebrew.
6. Physics.
1. The doctrines and properties of natural bodies.
2. Of the operations of nature.
3. Of the doctrines of fluids.
4. Of the properties of organised matter.
5. Of the organisation of matter.
6. Simple astronomy.
7. Mechanics.
8. Rhetoric and Oratory.
9. History and Chronology.
10. Mathematics.

The note-book opens with “Hints Towards the Investigation of

Truth in Religious and Political Opinions, composed as they occurred,
to be placed in a more regular manner hereafter.” Then follow essays
“On the Immortality and Immateriality of the Soul”; “Body,
Organised Matter”; on “Governments”; on “The Credulity of Mortals”;
“An Essay to Prove that the Thinking Powers depend on the
Organisation of the Body”; “A Defence of Materialism”; “An Essay on
the Ultimate End of Being”; “On Happiness”; “On Moral Obligation.”
These early essays display the workings of an original mind,
intent, it may be, on problems beyond its immature powers, but
striving in all sincerity to work out its own thoughts and to arrive at
its own conclusions. Of course, the daring youth of sixteen who
enters upon an inquiry into the most difficult problems of theology
and metaphysics, with, what he is pleased to call, unprejudiced
reason as his sole guide, quickly passes into a cold fit of materialism.
His mind was too impressionable, however, to have reached the
stage of settled convictions; and in the same note-book we
subsequently find the heads of a train of argument in favour of a
rational religious belief founded on immaterialism.
Metaphysical inquiries seem, indeed, to have occupied the
greater part of his time at this period; and his note-books show that
he made himself acquainted with the writings of Locke, Hartley,
Bishop Berkeley, Hume, Helvetius, Condorcet, and Reid, and that he
had some knowledge of the doctrines of Kant and the
Transcendentalists.
That he thought for himself, and was not unduly swayed by
authority, is evident from the general tenour of his notes, and from
the critical remarks and comments by which they are accompanied.
Some of these are worth quoting:—

“Science or knowledge is the association of a number of

ideas, with some idea or term capable of recalling them to
the mind in a certain order.”
“By examining the phenomena of Nature, a certain
similarity of effects is discovered. The business of science is
to discover these effects, and to refer them to some common
cause; that is to generalise ideas.”

As his impulsive, ingenuous disposition led him, even to the last,

to speak freely of what was uppermost in his mind at the moment,
we may be sure that his elders, the Rev. Dr. Tonkin, his good friend
John Tonkin, and his grandmother Davy, with whom he was a great
favourite, as he was with most old people, must have been
considerably exercised at times with the metaphysical disquisitions to
which they were treated; and we can well imagine that their
patience was occasionally as greatly tried as that of the worthy
member of the Society of Friends who wound up an argument with
the remark, “I tell thee what, Humphry, thou art the most quibbling
hand at a dispute I ever met with in my life.” Whether it was in
revenge for this sally that the young disputant composed the “Letter
on the Pretended Inspiration of the Quakers” which is to be found in
one of his early note-books, does not appear.
We easily trace in these early essays the evidences of that
facility and charm of expression which a few years later astonished
and delighted his audiences at the Royal Institution, and which
remained the characteristic features of his literary style. These
qualities were in no small degree strengthened by his frequent
exercises in poetry. For Davy had early tasted of the Pierian spring,
and, like Pope, may be said to have lisped in numbers. At five he
was an improvisatore, reciting his rhymes at some Christmas
gambols, attired in a fanciful dress prepared by a playful girl who
was related to him. That he had the divine gift was acknowledged by
no less an authority than Coleridge, who said that “if Davy had not
been the first Chemist, he would have been the first Poet of his age.”
Southey also, who knew him well, said after his death, “Davy was a
most extraordinary man; he would have excelled in any department
of art or science to which he had directed the powers of his mind.
He had all the elements of a poet; he only wanted the art. I have
read some beautiful verses of his. When I went to Portugal, I left
Davy to revise and publish my poem of ‘Thalaba.’”
Throughout his life he was wont, when deeply moved, to
express his feelings in verse; and at times even his prose was so
suffused with the glow of poetry that to some it seemed altiloquent
and inflated. Some of his first efforts appeared in the “Annual
Anthology,” a work printed in Bristol in 1799, and edited by Southey
and Tobin, and interesting to the book-hunter as one of the first of
the literary “Annuals” which subsequently became so fashionable.
Davy had an intense love of Nature, and nothing stirred the
poetic fire within him more than the sight of some sublime natural
object such as a storm-beaten cliff, a mighty mountain, a resistless
torrent, or some spectacle which recalled the power and majesty of
the sea. Not that he was insensible to the simpler charms of pastoral
beauty, or incapable of sympathy with Nature in her softest,
tenderest moods. But these things never seemed to move him as did
some scene of grandeur, or some manifestation of stupendous
natural energy.
The following lines, written on Fair Head during the summer of
1806, may serve as an example of how scenery when associated in
his mind with the sentiments of dignity or strength affected him:—

“Majestic Cliff! Thou birth of unknown time,

Long had the billows beat thee, long the waves
Rush’d o’er thy hollow’d rocks, ere life adorn’d
Thy broken surface, ere the yellow moss
Had tinted thee, or the wild dews of heaven
Clothed thee with verdure, or the eagles made
Thy caves their aëry. So in after time
Long shalt thou rest unalter’d mid the wreck
Of all the mightiness of human works;
For not the lightning, nor the whirlwind’s force,
Nor all the waves of ocean, shall prevail
Against thy giant strength, and thou shalt stand
Till the Almighty voice which bade thee rise
Shall bid thee fall.”

In spite of a love-passage which seems to have provoked a

succession of sonnets, his devotions to Calliope were by no means
so unremitting as to prevent him from following the plan of study he
had marked out for himself. His note-books show that in the early
part of 1796 he attacked the mathematics, and with such ardour
that in little more than a year he had worked through a course of
what he called “Mathematical Rudiments,” in which he included
“fractions, vulgar and decimal; extraction of roots; algebra (as far as
quadratic equations); Euclid’s elements of geometry; trigonometry;
logarithms; sines and tangents; tables; application of algebra to
geometry, etc.”
 In 1797 he began the study of natural philosophy, and towards
the end of this year, when he was close on nineteen, he turned his
attention to chemistry, merely, however, at the outset as a branch of
his professional education, and with no other idea than to acquaint
himself with its general principles. His good fortune led him to select
Lavoisier’s “Elements”—probably Kerr’s translation, published in 1796
—as his text-book. No choice could have been happier. The book is
well suited to a mind like Davy’s, and he could not fail to be
impressed by the boldness and comprehensiveness of its theory, its
admirable logic, and the clearness and precision of its statements.
From reading and speculation he soon passed to experiment.
But at this time he had never seen a chemical operation performed,
and had little or no acquaintance with even as much as the forms of
chemical apparatus. Phials, wine-glasses, tea-cups, and tobacco-
pipes, with an occasional earthen crucible, were all the paraphernalia
he could command; the common mineral acids, the alkalis, and a
few drugs from the surgery constituted his stock of chemicals. Of the
nature of these early trials we know little. It is, however, almost
certain that the experiments with sea-weed, described in his two
essays “On Heat, Light and the Combinations of Light” and “On the
Generation of Phosoxygen and the Causes of the Colours of Organic
Beings” (see p. 30), were made at this time, and it is highly probable
that the experiments on land-plants, which are directly related to
those on the Fuci and are described in connection with them, were
made at the same period. That he pursued his experiments with
characteristic ardour is borne out by the testimony of members of
his family, particularly by that of his sister, who sometimes acted as
his assistant, and whose dress too frequently suffered from the
corrosive action of his chemicals. The good Mr. Tonkin and his
worthy brother, the Reverend Doctor, were also from time to time
abruptly and unexpectedly made aware of his zeal. “This boy
Humphry is incorrigible! He will blow us all into the air!” were
occasional exclamations heard to follow the alarming noises which
now and then proceeded from the laboratory. The well-known
anecdote of the syringe which had formed part of a case of
instruments of a shipwrecked French surgeon, and which Davy had
ingeniously converted into an air-pump, although related by Dr. Paris
“with a minuteness and vivacity worthy of Defoe,” is, in all
probability, apocryphal. Nor has Lord Brougham’s story, that his
devotion to chemical experiments and “his dislike to the shop”
resulted in a disagreement with his master, and that “he went to
another in the same place,” where “he continued in the same
course,” any surer foundation in fact.
Two or three circumstances conduced to develop Davy’s taste for
scientific pursuits, and to extend his opportunities for observation
and experiment. One was his acquaintance with Mr. Gregory Watt;
another was his introduction to Mr. Davies Gilbert (then Mr. Davies
Giddy), a Cornish gentleman of wealth and position, who lived to
succeed him in the presidential chair of the Royal Society.
Gregory Watt, the son of James Watt, the engineer, by his
second marriage, was a young man of singular promise who, had he
lived, would—if we may judge from his paper in the Philosophical
Transactions—have almost certainly acquired a distinguished position
in science. Of a weakly, consumptive habit, he was ordered to spend
the winter of 1797 in Penzance, where he lodged with Mrs. Davy,
boarding with the family. Young Watt was about two years older
than Davy, and had just left the University of Glasgow, “his mind
enriched beyond his age with science and literature, with a spirit
above the little vanities and distinctions of the world, devoted to the
acquisition of knowledge.” He remained in Penzance until the
following spring, and by his example, and by the generous friendship
which he extended towards him, he developed and strengthened
Davy’s resolve to devote himself to science. Davy’s introduction to
Mr. Gilbert, “a man older than himself, with considerable knowledge
of science generally, and with the advantages of a University
education,” was also a most timely and propitious circumstance.
According to Dr. Paris—

“Mr. Gilbert’s attention was attracted to the future

philosopher, as he was carelessly swinging over the hatch, or
 half-gate, of Mr. Borlase’s house, by the humorous contortions
into which he threw his features. Davy it may be remarked,
when a boy, possessed a countenance which even in its
natural state was very far from comely; while his round
shoulders, inharmonious voice and insignificant manner, were
calculated to produce anything rather than a favourable
impression: in riper years, he was what might be called
‘good-looking,’ although as a wit of the day observed, his
aspect was certainly of the ‘bucolic’ character. The change
which his person underwent, after his promotion to the Royal
Institution, was so rapid that in the days of Herodotus, it
would have been attributed to nothing less than the
miraculous interposition of the Priestesses of Helen. A person,
who happened to be walking with Mr. Gilbert upon the
occasion alluded to, observed that the extraordinary looking
boy in question was young Davy, the carver’s son, who, he
added, was said to be fond of making chemical experiments.”

Mr. Gilbert was thus led to interest himself in the boy, whom he
invited to his house at Tredrea, offering him the use of his library,
and such other assistance in his studies as he could render. On one
occasion he was taken over to the Hayle Copper-House, and had the
opportunity of seeing a well-appointed laboratory:

“The tumultuous delight which Davy expressed on seeing,

for the first time, a quantity of chemical apparatus, hitherto
only known to him through the medium of engravings, is
described by Mr. Gilbert as surpassing all description. The air-
pump more especially fixed his attention, and he worked its
piston, exhausted the receiver, and opened its valves, with
the simplicity and joy of a child engaged in the examination
of a new and favourite toy.”

It has already been stated that in the outset Davy attacked

science as he did metaphysics, approaching it from the purely
theoretical side. As might be surmised, his love of speculation
quickly found exercise for itself, and within four months of his
introduction to the study of science he had conceived and elaborated
a new hypothesis on the nature of heat and light, which he
communicated to Dr. Beddoes.
Dr. Thomas Beddoes was by training a medical man, who in
various ways had striven to make a name for himself in science. He
is known to the chemical bibliographer as the translator of the
Chemical Essays of Scheele, and at one time occupied the Chair of
Chemistry at Oxford. The geological world at the end of the
eighteenth century regarded him as a zealous and uncompromising
Plutonist. His character was thus described by Davy, who in the last
year of his life jotted down, in the form of brief notes, his
reminiscences of some of the more remarkable men of his
acquaintance:—

“Beddoes was reserved in manner and almost dry; but his

countenance was very agreeable. He was cold in
conversation, and apparently much occupied with his own
peculiar views and theories. Nothing could be a stronger
contrast to his apparent coldness in discussion than his wild
and active imagination, which was as poetical as Darwin’s....
On his deathbed he wrote me a most affecting letter,
regretting his scientific aberrations.”

One of Dr. Beddoes’s “scientific aberrations” was the inception

and establishment of the Pneumatic Institution, which he founded
with a view of studying the medicinal effects of the different gases,
in the sanguine hope that powerful remedies might be found
amongst them. The Institution, which was supported wholly by
subscription, was to be provided with all the means likely to promote
its objects—a hospital for patients, a laboratory for experimental
research, and a theatre for lecturing.
In seeking for a person to take charge of the laboratory, Dr.
Beddoes bethought him of Davy, who had been recommended to
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