when, by multiplying experiments, and comparing the facts they disclosed, Davy ultimately succeeded in reconciling apparent anomalies, and by removing the greater number of those difficulties which had obscured this branch of science, was enabled to present a clear and satisfactory history of the combinations of Oxygen and Nitrogen. These interesting results were published in a separate volume, entitled, "Researches, Chemical and Philosophical, chiefly concerning Nitrous Oxide and its Respiration: by Humphrey Davy, Superintendent of the Pneumatic Institution." Count Rumford was seeking for some rising philosopher who might fill the chemical chair of the recently-established Institution of Great Britain: could there be any doubt as to whom he should apply? Davy was proposed, and immediately elected. Were we not disposed to question the utility of biographical minutiæ, we might in this place have been tempted to offer some personal anecdotes, for the purpose of showing what a change was suddenly effected in the habits and manners of Davy hy his elevation. His enemies may avail themselves of the circumstance, and we shall not envy their triumph; but we ask in candour, where is a man of twenty-two years of age to be found, unless the temperature of his blood be below zero, who could remain uninfluenced by such a change! Look at Davy in the laboratory at Bristol, pursuing with eager industry various abstract points of research; mixing only with a few philosophers, sanguine like himself in the investigation of chemical phenomena, but whose worldly knowledge was bounded by the walls of the institution in which they were engaged. Shift the scene-could the spells of an enchanter effect a more magical transformation? Behold him in the theatre of the Royal Institution! surrounded by an aristocracy of intellect, as well as of rank. We admit that his vanity was excited by such extraordinary demonstrations of devotion; that he lost that simplicity which constituted the charm of his character, and assumed the garb and airs of a man of fashion can we wonder if, under such circumstances, the robe should not have always fallen in graceful draperies? But the charms of the ball-room did not allure him from the pursuits of the laboratory. He had a capacity for both, and his devotion to Terpsicore did not interfere with the rites of Minerva. So popular did he become, under the auspices of the Duchess of Gordon, and other leaders of fashion, that their soirées were considered incomplete without his presence; and yet the crowds that repaired to the Institution in the morning were, day after day, gratified by newly-devised and instructive experiments performed with the utmost ad

dress, and explained in language at once the most intelligible and the most eloquent. About two years after his introduction to the scientific world, having been elected professor of chemistry to the Board of Agriculture, Davy commenced a series of lectures before its members; and which he continued to deliver each successive session for ten years, modifying and extending their views, from time to time, in such a manner as the progress of chemical discovery might require. These discourses were published in 1813, at the request of the President and Members of the Board; and they form the only complete work we possess on the subject of agricultural chemistry. When we consider the many opportu nities which the author enjoyed of acquiring practical information from the intelligent members of the Board, and of putting to the test of experience the truth of those various theories which his science had suggested, we can scarcely expect that another author should arise in our times who would be able to produce a superior work. He has treated the interesting subject of manures with singular success; showing the manner in which they become the nourishment of the plant, and the changes produced in them by the processes of fermentation and putrefaction, and the utility of mixing and combining them with each other. He has also pointed out the chemical principles upon which depends the improvement of lands by burning and fallowing he has elucidated the theory of convertible husbandry, founded on regular rotations of different crops; and, in short, has brought his knowledge to bear on various other agricultural questions connected with chemistry, which the limits of our memoir will not allow us to detail. We must not, however, omit to mention the important information he has afforded on the subject of the composition of different soils, and the methods to be adopted for their analysis. The processes in use for such an examination, previous to his time, were always complicated, and frequently fallacious: he simplified the operations, and introduced new and convenient apparatus for the purpose. Nor ought we to pass over in silence the curious results of his experiments on the quantity of nutritive matters contained in varieties of the different substances that have been used as articles of food, either for men or cattle, by which he was enabled to explain numerous facts connected with the comparative excellence of different articles. Thus, for instance, in the South of Europe, hard, or thinskinned wheat, is in higher estimation than soft, or thickskinned wheat; a fact which he showed to depend upon the larger quantity of gluten and nutritive matter which the former contains. In the year 1803, Davy was elected a Fellow of the

Royal Society; he subsequently became its Secretary and lastly its President. During a period of five-and-twenty years, he constantly supplied its Transactions with papers; and it is not too much to say, that no individual philosopher, in any age or country, ever contributed so largely in extending truth, or ever achieved so much in eradicating error. The theory of Lavoisier, which was received throughout Europe with the homage due to an oracle, and was even classed in certainty with the doctrine of gravitation—which had withstood all the assaults of the Stahlian philosophers, in Germany, Sweden, and Britain, and passed unimpaired through the most severe ordeals to which any system was ever exposed-yielded, in some of its most essential points, to the cool and dispassionate reasoning of Davy. We cannot but admire the candour and humility with which Davy alludes to the circumstance: in speaking of the experiments which it was his good fortune to institute," he says,- The novel results, while they have strengthened some of the doctrines of the school of Lavoisier, have overturned others, and have proved that the generalizations of the Antiphlogistic philosophers were far from having anticipated the whole progress of discovery." The researches detailed in Davy's papers are far too important and numerous to be detailed here. We must refer to the originals which this great man has left behind him.-New Monthly Magazine.

This great philosopher closed his mortal career at Geneva, where he had arrived only the day before from Rome, in which city he had a serious and alarming attack of Paralysis, but from which he appeared to be recovering.

30.-WHIT-SUNDAY.

A solemn festival of the Christian church, observed on the fiftieth day after Easter, in memory of the descent of the Holy Ghost upon the Apostles in the visible appearance of fiery cloven tongues, and of those miraculous powers which were then conferred upon them. It is called Whit-Sunday, or White-Sunday, because this being one of the stated times for baptism in the ancient church, those who were baptized put on white garments, as types of that spiritual purity they received in baptism.

31.-WHIT-MONDAY.

This and the following day are observed as festivals in the church. Their religious character, however, is nearly obsolete, and Whitsuntide is now principally distinguished as a holiday among the lower classes.

31.-1829.-BISHOP OF OXFOrd died, ætat. 44.

The Right Rev. Charles Lloyd, Bishop of Oxford, born September 26, 1784, was the son of the Rev. T. Lloyd, of Downley, Bucks. He was educated at Eton, and in 1803 admitted at Christ Church, Oxford, where he soon acquired much credit for his classical attainments and mathematical knowledge. Dean Jackson, observing his great talent, promoted his interests in every way possible, and at length appointed him Mathematical Lecturer at Christ Church. His fame now extended, and in 1822 he was appointed Regius Professor of Divinity. In 1827 he was advanced to the see of Oxford, but seldom appeared in the House of Lords, and only made one speech, which was on the Catholic question. Having caught a cold at a dinner given by the Academicians at Somerset House, he was attacked with an inflammation of the lungs, which deprived him of life in less than a month.

As few persons are acquainted with the customary ceremonies on the election of a bishop, we shall take this opportunity of briefly stating the forms invariably gone through on such occasions.

"When any bishop's see becomes vacant, the dean and chapter of that cathedral give information to the king, and humbly request that his Majesty will grant them leave to elect another. The king then grants to the dean his Conge d'Elire, which, according to the ancient French, in which this was written, signifies' leave to elect.'

"The dean afterwards summons a chapter, or assembly of the prebendaries, who are bound to elect the person recommended by the King's Letters, under pain of a præmu

nire.* The election is then certified to the person elected; and, upon his acceptance, notice is given to the king, and the archbishop of the province; after which, the king sanctions it by his royal assent under the great seal of England, which is exhibited to the archbishop of the province, with command to confirm and consecrate him. The archbishop subscribes fiat confirmatio, and gives commission, under his archiepiscopal seal, to his vicar-general, to perform all the acts required to complete the confirmation of the elected bishop.

"After these formalities, the new bishop takes the oath of supremacy, simony, and canonical obedience; the judge of the arches reads and subscribes the sentence; and, by the king's mandate, follows the solemn consecration of the elected bishop, which is performed by the archbishop, with the assistance of two other bishops.

"A mandate is then issued from the archbishop to the archdeacon of his diocese, to instal the bishop elected, and confirmed, and consecrated. The mode of instalment is as follows:-Upon any day, between nine and eleven o'clock, in the presence of a public notary, the bishop elect, or his proxy, which is most usual, is introduced into the cathedral church by the archdeacon of Canterbury, by whom, or by his proxy, all the bishops of that province are installed. First, he declares his assent to the king's supremacy, and swears, that unless he be otherwise dispensed with, he will be resident according to the custom of that cathedral, observe the manners of the said church, and cause others to observe the same.

"Then the archdeacon, with the petty canons and officers of the church, accompany the bishop up the choir, and there place him in the seat prepared for the bishops, between the altar and right side of the choir, when the archdeacon pronounces these words :

"Ego authoritate mihi commissa, induco et inthronizo Reverendum in Christo Patrem Dominum, N. N. Episcopum, et Dominus custodiat suum introitem et exitum ex hoc nunc et in seculum. Amen.'

"After the singing of Te Deum by the sub-dean and petty canons, prayers follow. The bishop is then conducted into the chapter-house, and there placed on a high seat; when the archdeacon and all the prebendaries and officers of the

* The judgment of which is, that the defendant shall be out of the king's protection, that his lands and tenements, goods and chattels, shall be forfeited to the king; and that his body shall remain in prison at the king's pleasure.