SIR HUMPHRY DAVY - DOCUMENT SIGNED 08/24/1808 - HFSID 276383

HUMPHRY DAVY
The English chemist, as Secretary of the Royal Society, regrets that the prestigious organization cannot publish a paper by mathemetician Robert Woodhouse at the moment, but it will be put into the Archives of the Society.
Partly Printed DS: "Humphry Davy" as Secretary of the Royal Society, 1p, 10x16. The Apartments of the Royal Society, Somerset Place, Strand, 1808 March 24. Imprinted form letter to Robert Woodhouse, Esqr., Caius College, Cambridge. Begins: "Sir". In full: "The Royal Society return you their thanks for your Paper on the form of the teeth of wheels which the Committee of Papers, although they do not think proper to publish it at present, have directed to be deposited in [the] Archives of the Society. I am, Sir, Your most Obedient, & very Humble Servant". Date and copy bolded above in Davy's hand. Addressed on verso in unknown hand to: "Robert Woodhouse Esqr., Caius College, Cambridge". Lightly creased with folds, not at signature. 2¼-inch separation at blank left margin at upper horizontal fold, ½-inch separation at blank right margin at that fold. Pinholes at upper crossfolds. Remnant of ¾-inch red wax seal at mid-left margin (minor transference at blank area beneath it), 1x½-inch hole at right margin from opening of seal has removed one word ("the") of text. Lightly soiled and shaded on verso. Overall, fair condition.Accompanied by engraving, unsigned. B/w, 6¾x10 overall, image 4x5 (one surface). Engraving "From the original Picture by Sir Thomas Lawrence, in the possession of the Royal Society." Lightly soiled and stained at margins. Irregular left edge from removal from bound book. Overall, fine condition. English mathematician ROBERT WOODHOUSE (1773-1827) was educated at Caius College, where he became Plumian Professor and lived until his death. Woodhouse's earliest work, Principles of Analytical Calculation, had been published in 1803, five years before he submitted the paper mentioned in this document. In 1809, the year after this document, Woodhouse published Plane and Spherical Trigonometry, which was followed by A Treatise on Isoperimetrical Problems and the Calculus of Variations in 1810. English chemist Sir HUMPHRY DAVY (1778-1829) became a fellow of the Royal Society in 1803, and he served as President of the prestigious organization from 1820-1827. A pioneer in the study of electrochemistry, in 1799, Davy discovered the exhilarating effect of nitrous oxide (laughing gas) when inhaled. Electrolytic methods yielded him the elements sodium, potassium and calcium (1807-1808). Davy also recognized the element nature of chlorine and gave it its name (1810). He invented the miner's safety lamp, called the Davy Lamp, in 1815. Two items.