A GREAT SCIENTIFIC CHEMIST.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLII, Issue 12991, 7 October 1905, Page 1 (Supplement)

A GREAT SCIENTIFIC CHEMIST.

■ CAREER OF A REMARKABLE MAN. , There recently came under the hammer a j house at Clapham Common bearing the | name of Cavendish House. Here the Hon. : Henry Cavendish, sop of Lord Charles : Cavendish, and grandson of the second i Duke of Devonshire, one of the greatest of I English (or rather of the world's) chemists ! " buried his science and his wealth in soli- | tude." So wrote his cousin, a later duke, of him. This remarkable man, who played so great a role in science (and might?have played a much greater), but so email a part in society, received his early education at Dr. Newcome's, school at Hackney. He went straight thence to Cambridge University, which he left after four years' residence, without taking a.' degree. He devoted his whole life to scientific research ; mathematics was his abiding study, but lie explored also the unknown realms of chemistry, electricity, meteorology, and astronomy. Early in his career, when he occupied a set of rooms above the stables of old Burlington House, he pursued researches into the properties of arsenic, heat, and carbonic acid gas. In the second subject it is known that, he made discoveries in regard to specific And latent heat which anticipated those subsequently made and published by Dr. Black, and it is said suppressed them that, he ■ might not enter Into rivalry with that gentleman. In 1766 he sent to the Royal Society his papers on "Factitious Airs," in the first part of which he treated of hydrogen, then known as inflammable air. Without advancing any pretensions he demonstrated that this gas was an ele- • rnent, and made one observation that; was the germ of his greatest discovery in chemistry. He observed that after exploding hydrogen "a certain amount of liquid was deposited in the tube." Fifteen years later he made a series of experiments, from which he finally concluded that "almost all the inflammable air and about one-fifth of"the j common air lose their elasticity and are condensed into the dew which lines the glass." Ultimately he convinced himself that "water consists of dephlogist-icated air (oxygen) united with phlogiston (hydrogen)," and he was thus the first to prove by inductive experiment that. water consists of these gases. A long and bitter controversy raged about this discovery, the priority of which was claimed for Watt. He was also the first to discover the true nature of nitric acid and the constancy of the constituents of the atmosphere. He was one of the first physicists to revive Bacon and Newton's idea that heat was not a thing, but a mode of motion. A SHY MAN. The source of the trouble was the preternatural shyness of Cavendish, which amounted almost to a disease. He scarcely ever went into society or kept any, and that which he frequented, whether at his own house or elsewhere,. was limited to scientific men. He attended meetings of the Royal Society and dined with the club. Women he dreaded. An amusing story is told of his introduction to Dr. Ingenhousz, a scientist of Breda, "who entered upon a complimentary harangue, saying that he had only come to England for the'purpose of seeing the great. Cavendish, and more Co the same effect. All this, which would have been' glory to most men, was misery to its recipient. He stood staring at the floor, saying not one. word. Presently he saw a gap- in the crowd, made a dash for ( the door, hurried downstairs, jumped into his carriage, and drove home! He was a rich man, but his life was one of studied simplicity. A, leg of mutton generally constituted his dinner. On one occasion, when several scientists had been invited to dine with himhe was then living in Gower-slreet housekeeper asked for instructions as to what she was to provide. " A leg of mutton," he replied. It was pointed out that this would not be sufficient. " Very, well," he replied, "get two legs!" . * His shyness robbed him of much of his well-deserved fame. For this it is safe to say he cared nothing, £>ut probably he felt acutely the trouble it brought on him in the " Water Controversy," for after 1785 he made no more discoveries, or, at all events, he published none. Nevertheless, among the masses of unpublished • papers which were • found after Itiis death in 1810 were twenty packets of MS. studies on electricity, which anticipated many of the elementary facts of this science in its earlier stages ; facts which, rediscovered subsequently, gave fame and honours to others. THE WEIGHT OF THE WORLD. It was in 1798, and in the house at Clapham, which is now in danger of passing from before the eyes of men, that lie made the remarkable series of experiments which resulted in estimating the weight of the earth. He computed its mean density by what, as soon as it was explained, seemed a quite obvious method —he compared tie force, of terrestrial attraction wit!a that of the attraction of something of known magnitude and density. This done, an approximation of the weight of the globe became possible. The result at which Cavendish arrived was marvellously accurate, considering the delicacy of the'experiment and the simplicity of his apparatus. The mean of tAventv-t-hree experiments was 'that- the earth weighed as much as 5.45 globes of water of the same size, which is almost exactly the specific gravity of the world now accepted, namely, five and a-lialf times the weight of an equal globe of water. An immense library was available to all his scientific acquaintances on the condition that thev did not disturb the owner. His retired habits and contempt for luxury caused his wealth to accumulate beyond the usual rate, so that when he died he left behind him nearly ■ £1,200,000. _ At the time this was consider to be the largest .sunt in funded property ever possessed by one individual. . " Cavendish's contempt for money was quite equal to his distaste for society. W hen. his balance at the bank had crept up to £80.000, the banker sent to inquire the owner's wishes as: to investment. Do what you like with it," was the reply, but trouble me no more about it, or I will place my account elsewhere. The late Duke of Devonshire, himself a distinguished mathematician, Second Wrangler, and Smiths Prizeman, splendidly endowed the Cavendish Laboratory at Cambridge, and it:» pleasant to think that it. keeps alive the name of a most remarkable man.

The rumoured betrothal—:not yet ed—of Ladv Mary Douglas-Hamilton to Captain McNeill disposes of the greatest heiress in England. The only child of the 12th Duke of Hamilton and Brandon she inherits everything that the law permitted him to bequeath to her, the present 'hue- » descendant of the Hamilton who figures in the story of Esmond— as his share sixteen titles and an empty palace. Besides the island of Arran, Lady Miry is the possessor of large estates in bun our and of a colossal fortune—the proceeds of the sale of the famous Hamilton collection which took over a month to disperse. H?r mother —now the wife of Mr. Carnaby Forster—is the daughter of the Duchess of Devonshire. She is devoted to sport, which taste her daughter is said' to snare.' The Hamilton -family is the most illustrious in Scotland. Of Norman extraction, _ they date their greatness from the days of King Robert Bruce; in fact, they owe all their advancement to royal favour. Tho French dukedom of CLatclherault was bestowed on the second car!! for giving his consent to the marriage of Mjuy. Queen of Scots to the vfew&s* ~ . T ' ~" ' ': " J