THIS WEEKS GREAT DAY.

Auckland Star, Volume LVIII, Issue 121, 25 May 1927, Page 6

THIS WEEKS GREAT DAY.

MAY 29—DEATH OF SIR HUMPHREY DAVY.

(By CHARLES CON WAV.)

Ninety-eight veers ago. on May 28. lfQ9, Sir Humphrey Davy, the famous cheiiiist and scientific writer, died at the age of 51. He was U>rn on December IT, I77tf. at Pcn*ance, in Cornwall, where hi* father followed the occupation of v\oo«l carver. He we* educated at grammar school* at Pen ranee and Truro, but as a Ih»v he showed very little iutcrc.-t in science, and |>rinri|tally distinguished hiniM»lf at school ai> a writer of veroe and etorie*. At Ihe age of 16 he was apprenticed to a .-unu-uii in his native town with the intention of following a medical career, but ho .speedily I •«•«-« me interested in chemistry, of which he 'made a systematic aludv, with the result that four year's later he was appoint e<l tho superintendent of the Medical Pneumatic Institute, which had rrceiitlv otul.li.-W at Bristol for the investigation of the medical properties of x»sc>. Hβ then commenced hi* brilliant career as a chemist, and one of hi* earliest discoveries wa* the nitrous oxide, or laughing, ga*. which, coupled with tho publication of his hook. "Ho«««rehei>, ( lum.ii.hl and Philosophical," brought him wide' feme and led to hi« beng appointed, at the ape of i."l. director of the c-hcinical laboratory at the Ko\al Institution in London. For the "next ten years he worked strenuously at the In»titntion, where he had as an a«*Ulant Michael Faraday, who was destined to become one of our greatest natural philosopher*. Davy ma<le numerous valuable di<covcric« in the course of his agricultural and electrical ex|icrinienta. and at the age of 34 he received the honour of knighthood from the Prince Regent. Ho then made a tour of the leading Kuropean «etitres of scientific research, which lasted /or throe year.*, and on which he »a* accompanied by Faraday, who acted a* hi* secretary and assisted him in the experiment* which he was (•ermitted to make in the various foreign institutions visited.

On his return to London in 181.*•. Ik- devoted himself to research work in connection with the fire-damp in coal mine*, ami this led, three years litter, to hi» famous invention —the safety "lamp for miner.-, which proved a great Ikk»ji t<. colliery workers all over the world. He refused t'o patent the lamp, hs he had no desire, to benefit tiiiMiuially from hix labour* in tho <»f humanity, but his disinterestedness was recognised by a presentation of plate by the owners of the Knglish collieries. In ISP.* he whs mad*- a baronet, and two years later he succeeded Sir Joseph Bunks as" the president of the Royal Society, one of the n-.o*t <-ovct»»d honours in'the. British scientific, world. Hβ was only 48 when h* had an apoplectic seizure, from the effects of which he ni-\rr completely recovered, and at the eom|«Rralivcly carlv age. of .'•! he died at (ieuoa. In addition to his scientific writing., which included numeroux works mi .igrtrtilturNl chemistry and the chemical ajrmcic- of electricitv. Davy whs the author of "Salmonia, or I>«v« of Hy-Ki<diinj»." and also numerous ethical" ami religious pamphlet*. Some of hi* vetoes Mere highly praised by hi* friendo— l'oleridffc and Sntithey. the poet* and ii i* of interest t.i ret-all thai the*e two celehritie« were anion; the first person* to inhale the laughing gas wbcu it wa* originally discovered liy Dnvy. THE CRAZE FOR SIZE. Small x-hiHiU mine in lor a word of praise ihe other ilay from tho Minuter «.f Kducation. Mr. Wright instanced the Prime Minuter, and Mr. I). A. St radian mentioned Sir Kniei>l Kiitln-r----fonl a.« two men distinguished in different i-phere» who bad received their early rducat ion in a oneriHiiucd wbool. Many others could have been cited. In our worship «»f ,*i«?, we arc apt to forget that more has l«ern done for the world by small citie* ami ■•mill countries than by larjje ones. Palestine ha* given tin our religion.' (ireee* our piiilotkophy. Athens was a MiiaJl city compared with our modern town*, anr] yet Athens remain* as a model city for the world, and it Jtavo to the Ureeco of it* day more distinguished men in one. generation than New York has given since its foundation. In the case of »chool«. it may be claimed thut the larger schools afford better facilities for tuition. They can employ a number of trained teachers, und each teacher can take a single standard. Yet the advantage of this i* often offset by the fact that the cla»M»s ire too largo for any form of individual tuition, and the skill of the teacher i« frequently negatived by the difficulty of teaching sixty or teventv pupils in a crowded and stuffy classroom. In *a smr.ll school the teacher is perhaps handicapped by having to take scveritl standards at the same time, but what lie lo>e» in this re»peci ho gain* in many inMance* by getting into individual touch with hi* pupiU. In education it U the individual contact between teacher and pupil that really counti>. end though our large m-hnule may have excellent staff.-, yet their verv f'wf tend* to make a pupil l<.-i- individuality ami lHTofie iiiercly a nuinbei. The «-n«7<> for bibuildings has made citic- |o>e individuality, and soinn of tho huge erections' in American towns arc uliuost small citic- in theniM>hcs. The small to\ !is «>f tho eighteenth century formc«l a meeting pla.-e for the. reMdent* in the scattered hamlet* surrounding them, and there wa* an air of sociability and good fellowship that is impossible in the huge overcrowded cities of In-day. The same i> true of the gigantic steamships which ha\« replant] the smaller vessels and sailing j-hips of the laet eentury. On the Mnaller boats passengers got to know each other intimately, and many of tin- friendships thus formed lasted through life. The iih-cl.mii huge m-ean palace carries enough |»?iM»cngers to people a small town, and the vo_\age is mnde so rapidly that there is' littlo ehaiieo in crossing the Atlantic for the majority of passengers to get !«• ku«nv n nv |~,t a handful of their felbiwn. We h;«»e the Mime craze in regard to flshinz. where the love of rport wems to have given place to the lo\o of mere. bigness. The small M-hool is threatened with extinction by the j.resent demnnd for central •cbonlj, to which the children can l>e «Tirrir<| in busies and cars. If it pa**.*, it will leave behind it many pleasant memories, many fond recollections of painstaking and kindly* teacher*, and a no mean record of scholars \ih«. lia>e biter earned distinction in the great world outside. —W..M.

THE LONG RUN. The eurtain lie* hren rung d«>» u «ui Mario" Hftrr n twoyr a i>" run in l*>nd<ni. It is Mid that dtirin? tl<nt time UMMI.OUQ people mw tin* sallow. Hexiden larjf di\ i<i»nd> to »hjir<<h"ldrr.*. ?iHl:irir> and ■mniimilig to H4ii>i.lHMi *rtv \nt'u\. and royalties to copyright hoideo arc\>unted for £«♦»,«« W. HlJt a tWn-yearV "*>e«»on"' i» |»v m> niea'ir. a r?cnrd rim. For many years the comedy, "Our B«»ys,'' held the word. That aniiifinc j.'lay mn for four year* in Ixndou. onou~h. the writer played in "A Scrap of Pain-'r" , in Srditry with the two Irt-licr-f- wlhi plnyed the priiH|>ai rtilo,. in the famoii* |<rodtirtton ..f -tinr li-'v-i.* , Tliev «ero Amy Ro.«cHe and Knte Hl>hop. Thi-v had n«»l l»ren again a>MH-int«s| in a play till they met in Sydney. They mi id that, during the four-year*' run of '"<>ur Boy*," a ivheni>nl we* railed "evorv month to'liring the mtorn Iwirk to the te.\t. «o apt wire they to iinraphniw the nuth»r. "C barley's Aunt" had an etumnou* %opir. and Penley ran it in until it had ecli|tM>d the "Our Poyn" record by onr performance. Then he elotted the run. nirk In drath of llu- deadly munotony of playing the mi mo |tart for m» lonjr. But "Clin Thin I "how" h"l«l» the M«.rld'» belt for longe\ity. Ihirins the war tear* it became mi iiiftitutioii in London. It ran'for five vrars. Sir Herbert Tree, by the way. Mid In- failed tn *eo anything remarkable in iu long run. "It i» always m> rrfre»hingl\ "nue. , " "The V"»rmer'<» Wife." n«»w at thr t'nnrt Theatre. London. i« i« it« ttftli ye»r. nnd i» likely to break the "CTiu fhin fhmv" rrronl. Australia ha* hnd %nmt> lon« nin*. but musical plays* noeni to ha\e done better than the drama. "Our Mi*> tJiblw." , had a very long reign, ojtly filled by the. 317 conisecutive perfnrmanre* of "R«ise Marin" in Sydney. A» far back a* IKSO-S1 "L* Kill* duTarnhnur Major ,, arhirred th* tht n record ran of 101 nighu at the Melbourne Opera ilou«c