Note 36 — Chapter IX · THE WONDERFUL EFFECTS OF HEAT—(continued).

Dr. Paris, in his “Life of Davy” (p. 37), relates the following anecdote concerning the construction of this apparatus: “A French vessel having been wrecked off the Land’s End, the surgeon escaped, and found his way to Penzance. Accident brought him acquainted with Humphry Davy, who showed him many civilities, and in return received, as a present from the surgeon, a case of instruments which had been saved from the ship. The contents were eagerly turned out and examined by the young chemist; not, however, with any professional view as to their utility, but in order to ascertain how far they might be convertible to experimental purposes. The old-fashioned and clumsy glyster apparatus was viewed with exultation, and seized in triumph. What reverses may not be suddenly effected by a simple accident! So says the moralist. Reader, behold an illustration: in the brief space of an hour did this long-neglected and unobtrusive machine, emerging from its obscurity and insignificance, figure away in all the pomp of a complicated piece of pneumatic apparatus. Nor did its fortunes end here; it was destined for greater things; and we shall hereafter learn that it actually performed the duties of an air-pump in an original experiment on the nature and sources of heat.” It is but right to add, that Dr. Davy doubts the truth of the above story.