Editing Humphry Davy (section)

== Mid-career: 1802–1820 ==
=== Photographic enlargements ===
In June 1802 Davy published in the first issue of the ''Journals of the Royal Institution of Great Britain'' his ''An Account of a Method of Copying Paintings upon Glass, and of Making Profiles, by the Agency of Light upon Nitrate of Silver. Invented by T. Wedgwood, Esq. With Observations by H. Davy'' in which he described their experiments with the photosensitivity of [[silver nitrate]].<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/7550618|title=Photography, essays & images : illustrated readings in the history of photography|date=1980|publisher=Museum of Modern Art|last=Newhall| first=Beaumont|author-link=Beaumont Newhall |isbn=0-87070-385-4|location=New York|oclc=7550618}}</ref><ref>{{Citation | author1=International Congress: Pioneers of Photographic Science and Technology (1st : 1986 : International Museum of Photography) | author2=Ostroff, Eugene  | title=Pioneers of photography : their achievements in science and technology | date=1987 | publisher=SPSE – The Society for Imaging Science and Technology; [Boston, Mass.] : Distributed by Northeastern University Press | isbn=978-0-89208-131-8}}</ref>

He recorded that "images of small objects, produced by means of the solar microscope, may be copied without difficulty on prepared paper." [[Josef Maria Eder]], in his ''History of Photography,'' though crediting [[Thomas Wedgwood (photographer)|Wedgwood]], because of his application of this quality of silver nitrate to the making of images, as "the first photographer in the world," proposes that it was Davy who realised the idea of photographic [[Enlarger|enlargement]] using a solar microscope to project images onto sensitised paper. Neither found a means of fixing their images, and Davy devoted no more of his time to furthering these early discoveries in photography.<ref>(1932). Josef Maria Eder, ''Geschichte der Photographie''. Halle a. S: Knapp.</ref>

The principle of image projection using solar illumination was applied to the construction of the earliest form of photographic enlarger, the "[[solar camera]]".

===Elements===
[[File:VoltaBattery.JPG|thumb|upright|A [[voltaic pile]]]]
[[File:Sodium.jpg|thumb|100px|[[Sodium]] metal, about 10 g, under oil]]
[[File:Magnesium crystals.jpg|thumb|170px|[[Magnesium]] metal crystals]]

==== Potassium and sodium ====
Davy was a pioneer in the field of [[electrolysis]] using the [[voltaic pile]] to split common compounds and thus prepare many new elements. He went on to electrolyse molten salts and discovered several new metals, including [[sodium]] and [[potassium]], highly reactive elements known as the [[alkali metal]]s. Davy discovered potassium in 1807, deriving it from [[caustic potash]] (KOH). Before the 19th century, no distinction had been made between potassium and sodium. Potassium was the first metal that was isolated by electrolysis. Davy isolated sodium in the same year by passing an electric current through molten [[sodium hydroxide]].<ref name="Distillations" /><ref name="ODNB" />

==== Barium, calcium, strontium, magnesium, and boron ====
During the first half of 1808, Davy conducted a series of further electrolysis experiments on alkaline earths including [[Calcium carbonate|lime]], magnesia, strontites and barytes. At the beginning of June, Davy received a letter from the Swedish chemist [[Berzelius]] claiming that he, in conjunction with Dr. Pontin, had successfully obtained amalgams of calcium and barium by electrolysing lime and barytes using a mercury cathode. Davy managed to successfully repeat these experiments almost immediately and expanded Berzelius' method to strontites and magnesia.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Davy|first1=Humphry|title=Electrochemical Researches, on the Decomposition of the Earths; With Observations in the Metals Obtained from the Alkaline Earths, and on the Amalgam Procured from Ammonia|journal=Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society|date=1808|volume=98|pages=339–40|doi=10.1098/rstl.1808.0023|doi-access=|bibcode=1808RSPT...98..333D}}</ref> He noted that while these amalgams oxidised in only a few minutes when exposed to air they could be preserved for lengthy periods of time when submerged in [[naphtha]] before becoming covered with a white crust.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Davy|first1=Humphry|title=Electro-Chemical Researches, on the Decomposition of the Earths; With Observations on the Metals Obtained from the Alkaline Earths, and on the Amalgam Procured from Ammonia|journal=Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society|date=1808|volume=98|page=340|doi=10.1098/rstl.1808.0023|doi-access=|bibcode=1808RSPT...98..333D}}</ref>

On 30 June 1808 Davy reported to the Royal Society that he had successfully isolated four new metals which he named [[barium]], [[calcium]], [[strontium]] and magnium (later changed to [[magnesium]]) which were subsequently published in the ''Philosophical Transactions''. Although Davy conceded magnium was an "undoubtedly objectionable" name he argued the more appropriate name magnesium was already being applied to metallic manganese and wished to avoid creating an equivocal term.<ref name="Electro-chemical">{{cite journal|last1=Davy|first1=Humphry|title=Electro-chemical Researches, on the Decomposition of the Earths; With Observations in the Metals Obtained from the Alkaline Earths, and on the Amalgam Procured from Ammonia|journal=Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society|date=1808|volume=98|page=346|doi=10.1098/rstl.1808.0023|doi-access=|bibcode=1808RSPT...98..333D}}</ref>
The observations gathered from these experiments also led to Davy isolating [[boron]] in 1809.<ref name="Kenyon">{{cite journal|last1=Kenyon|first1=T. K.|title=Science and Celebrity: Humphry Davy's Rising Star|journal=Chemical Heritage Magazine|date=2008|volume=26|issue=4|pages=30–35|url=https://www.sciencehistory.org/distillations/magazine/science-and-celebrity-humphry-davys-rising-star|access-date=22 March 2018|archive-date=23 March 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180323032520/https://www.sciencehistory.org/distillations/magazine/science-and-celebrity-humphry-davys-rising-star|url-status=live}}</ref> [[Jöns Jacob Berzelius|Berzelius]] called Davy's 1806 [[Bakerian Lecture]] ''On Some Chemical Agencies of Electricity''<ref name="Davy, 1806">{{cite web |url=http://www.english.upenn.edu/Projects/knarf/Davy/davy5.html |title=On Some Chemical Agencies of Electricity |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071026154758/http://www.english.upenn.edu/Projects/knarf/Davy/davy5.html <!-- Bot retrieved archive --> |archive-date=26 October 2007 |access-date=2 March 2008}}</ref> "one of the best memoirs which has ever enriched the theory of chemistry."<ref name="Berzelius, 1818">{{cite book|title=Traité de chimie|last=Berzelius|first=J. J.|author2=trans. A. Jourdan and M. Esslinger|edition=trans., of experimental science|volume=1|page=169|language=fr|author-link=Jöns Jacob Berzelius}}</ref>

Davy performed a number of experiments aimed to isolate the metal [[aluminium]] and is credited as the person who named the element. The first name proposed for the metal to be isolated from alum was ''alumium'', which Davy suggested in an 1808 article on his electrochemical research, published in [[Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society]].<ref name="Davy1808">{{Cite journal | last1=Davy |first1=Humphry |date=1808 |title=Electro Chemical Researches, on the Decomposition of the Earths; with Observations on the Metals obtained from the alkaline Earths, and on the Amalgam procured from Ammonia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Kg9GAAAAMAAJ&pg=RA1-PA353|journal=Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society|volume=98|page=353|doi=10.1098/rstl.1808.0023|access-date=10 December 2009|doi-access=free|bibcode=1808RSPT...98..333D|archive-date=15 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210415111945/https://books.google.com/books?id=Kg9GAAAAMAAJ&pg=RA1-PA353|url-status=live}}</ref> It appeared that the name was created from the English word ''alum'' and the Latin suffix ''-ium''; but it was customary then to give elements names originating in Latin, so this name was not adopted universally. This name was criticized by contemporary chemists from France, Germany, and Sweden, who insisted the metal should be named for the oxide, alumina, from which it would be isolated.{{sfn|Richards|1896|pp=3–4}} The English name ''alum'' does not come directly from Latin, whereas ''alumine''/''alumina'' comes from the Latin word ''alumen'' (upon [[declension]], ''alumen'' changes to ''alumin-'').

==== Chlorine ====
[[File:Chlorine sphere (cropped).jpg|thumb|Chlorine]]
[[Chlorine]] was discovered in 1774 by Swedish chemist [[Carl Wilhelm Scheele]], who called it ''"dephlogisticated marine acid"'' (see [[phlogiston theory]]) and mistakenly thought it contained [[oxygen]]. Davy showed that the acid of Scheele's substance, called at the time [[Chlorine#History|oxymuriatic acid]], contained no [[oxygen]]. This discovery overturned [[Antoine Lavoisier|Lavoisier's]] definition of acids as compounds of oxygen.<ref name="Distillations" /> In 1810, chlorine was given its current name by Humphry Davy, who insisted that chlorine was in fact an [[Chemical element|element]].<ref>{{cite journal|last = Davy|first = Humphry|title = On Some of the Combinations of Oxymuriatic Gas and Oxygene, and on the Chemical Relations of These Principles, to Inflammable Bodies|journal = Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society|volume = 101|pages = 1–35|year = 1811|doi = 10.1098/rstl.1811.0001|url = https://zenodo.org/record/1432322|doi-access = free|bibcode = 1811RSPT..101....1D|access-date = 9 September 2019|archive-date = 1 August 2020|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20200801214422/https://zenodo.org/record/1432322|url-status = live}}</ref> The name chlorine, chosen by Davy for "one of [the substance's] obvious and characteristic properties – its colour", comes from the Greek χλωρος (chlōros), meaning green-yellow.

==== Laboratory incident ====
Davy seriously injured himself in a laboratory accident with [[nitrogen trichloride]].<ref name="Trans. RS, Davy, 1813" >{{cite journal
 |last=Humphry |first=Davy |title = On a New Detonating Compound
 |journal = [[Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society]]
 |year = 1813
 |volume = 103
 |pages = 1–7
 |doi = 10.1098/rstl.1813.0002
 |jstor=107383
|doi-access = 
 }}</ref> French chemist [[Pierre Louis Dulong]] had first prepared this compound in 1811, and had lost two fingers and an eye in two separate explosions with it. In a letter to [[John George Children|John Children]], on 16 November 1812, Davy wrote: "It must be used with great caution. It is not safe to experiment upon a globule larger than a pin's head. I have been severely wounded by a piece scarcely bigger. My sight, however, I am informed, will not be injured".<ref name="Knight 1992">{{cite book |last       = Knight
 |first      = David
 |author-link = David M. Knight
 |title      = Humphry Davy: Science and Power
 |location   = Cambridge, UK
 |publisher  = Cambridge University Press
 |year       = 1992
 |isbn       = 978-0-631-16816-4
 |url        = https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780631168164
}}</ref> Davy's accident induced him to hire [[Michael Faraday]] as a co-worker, particularly for assistance with handwriting and record keeping. They were both injured in another {{chem2|NCl3}} explosion shortly thereafter.<ref name="Thomas1991">{{cite book|author=Thomas, J.M.|title=Michael Faraday and The Royal Institution: The Genius of Man and Place (PBK)|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GN70U1tTe_EC&pg=PA17|year= 1991|publisher=CRC Press|isbn=978-0-7503-0145-9|page=17}}</ref> He had recovered from his injuries by April 1813.<ref name="Knight 1992"/>

=== Travels ===
====European tour====
[[File:Sir Humphry Davy, Bt by Sir Thomas Lawrence.jpg|thumb|right|upright|''[[Portrait of Sir Humphry Davy]]'' by [[Thomas Lawrence]], 1821]]
[[File:Rough diamond.jpg|left|thumb|150px|A diamond crystal in its matrix]]
In 1812, Davy was [[Knight Bachelor|knighted]] and gave up his lecturing position at the Royal Institution. He was given the title of Honorary Professor of Chemistry.<ref name="Knight 1992"/> He gave a farewell lecture to the Institution, and married a wealthy widow, [[Jane Davy|Jane Apreece]]. (While Davy was generally acknowledged as being faithful to his wife, their relationship was stormy, and in later years he travelled to continental Europe alone.){{Citation needed|date=September 2024}}
[[File:Davy-3.jpg|left|thumb|311x311px|Dedication page of an 1812 copy of "''Elements of Chemical Philosophy''," which Davy dedicated to his wife.]]
Davy then published his ''Elements of Chemical Philosophy, part 1, volume 1'', though other parts of this title were never completed. He made notes for a second edition, but it was never required.<ref name="Knight 1992"/> 
In October 1813, he and his wife, accompanied by [[Michael Faraday]] as his scientific assistant (also treated as a valet), travelled to France to collect the second edition of the ''[[Volta Prize#Inspiration|prix du Galvanisme]],'' a medal that [[Napoleon Bonaparte]] had awarded Davy for his electro-chemical work. Faraday noted "Tis indeed a strange venture at this time, to trust ourselves in a foreign and hostile country, where so little regard is had to protestations of honour, that the slightest suspicion would be sufficient to separate us for ever from England, and perhaps from life".<ref>{{cite book|last1=Jones|first1=H.B.|title=The life and letters of Faraday, Vol. 1|url=https://archive.org/details/dli.bengal.10689.1063|date=1870|page=[https://archive.org/details/dli.bengal.10689.1063/page/n85 75]}}</ref> Davy's party sailed from Plymouth to Morlaix by [[cartel (ship)|cartel]], where they were searched.<ref name="Knight 1992"/>

Upon reaching Paris, Davy was a guest of honour at a meeting of the First Class of the {{lang|fr|[[Institut de France]]|italic=no}} and met with [[André-Marie Ampère]] and other French chemists.<ref name="Knight 1992"/> It was later reported that Davy's wife had thrown the medal into the sea, near her Cornish home, "as it raised bad memories". The Royal Society of Chemistry has offered over £1,800 for the recovery of the medal.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7298375.stm|title=Napoleon's medal 'cast into sea'|date=15 March 2008|access-date=23 October 2021|website=News.bbc.co.uk|archive-date=10 February 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210210215753/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7298375.stm|url-status=live}}</ref>

While in Paris, Davy attended lectures at the [[Ecole Polytechnique]], including those by [[Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac]] on a mysterious substance isolated by [[Bernard Courtois]]. Davy wrote a paper for the Royal Society on the element, which is now called [[iodine]].<ref>{{cite journal |last=Davy |first=H. |title=Sur la nouvelle substance découverte par M. Courtois, dans le sel de Vareck |journal=[[Annales de chimie]] |volume=88|page=322|year=1813}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Davy |first=Humphry |title=Some Experiments and Observations on a New Substance Which Becomes a Violet Coloured Gas by Heat |journal=Phil. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. |volume=104 |pages=74–93|date=1 January 1814 |doi=10.1098/rstl.1814.0007 |doi-access= }}</ref> This led to a dispute between Davy and Gay-Lussac on who had the priority on the research.<ref name="Knight 1992"/>

Davy's party did not meet Napoleon in person, but they did visit the Empress [[Joséphine de Beauharnais]] at the [[Château de Malmaison]].<ref name="Knight 1992"/> The party left Paris in December 1813, travelling south to Italy.<ref name="Williams, 1965" >For information on the continental tour of Davy and Faraday, see {{cite book
 |last=Williams |first=L. Pearce
 |title = Michael Faraday: A Biography
 |url=https://archive.org/details/michaelfaradaybi00will |url-access=registration |year = 1965
 |page=[https://archive.org/details/michaelfaradaybi00will/page/36 36]
 |publisher = Basic Books|location = New York
 |isbn=978-0-306-80299-7
}}</ref> They sojourned in [[Florence]], where using the [[burning glass]] of the Grand Duke of Tuscany <ref>* {{cite book
 |last = Faraday |first = Michael
 |author-link = Michael Faraday
 |title = Curiosity Perfectly Satisfyed: Faraday's Travels in Europe, 1813–1815
 |editor1-last= Bowers
 |editor1-first= Brian
 |editor2-last= Symons
 |editor2-first= Lenore
 |location = London|publisher = Peregrinus
 |year = 1991
 |isbn = 9780863412349
}}</ref> in a series of experiments conducted with Faraday's assistance, Davy succeeded in using the sun's rays to ignite [[diamond]], proving it is composed of pure [[carbon]].

Davy's party continued to Rome, where he undertook experiments on iodine and chlorine and on the colours used in ancient paintings. This was the first chemical research on the pigments used by artists.<ref name="Knight 1992"/>

He also visited [[Naples]] and [[Mount Vesuvius]], where he collected samples of crystals. By June 1814, they were in [[Milan]], where they met [[Alessandro Volta]], and then continued north to [[Geneva]]. They returned to Italy via [[Munich]] and [[Innsbruck]], and when their plans to travel to Greece and [[Istanbul]] were abandoned after Napoleon's escape from [[Elba]], they returned to England.

After the [[Battle of Waterloo]], Davy wrote to [[Robert Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool|Lord Liverpool]] urging that the French be treated with severity:

{{Blockquote|My Lord, I need not say to Your Lordship that the capitulation of Paris not a treaty;  lest everything belonging to the future state of that capital & of France is open to discussion & that France is a conquered country.  It is the duty of the allies to give her more restricted boundaries which shall not encroach upon the natural limits of other nations.  to weaken her on the side of Italy, Germany & Flanders.  To take back from her by contributions the wealth she has acquired by them to suffer her to retain nothing that the republican or imperial armies have stolen:  This last duty is demanded no less by policy than justice.|Sir Humphry Davy
|Letter to Lord Liverpool<ref name="Knight 1992"/><ref>{{cite web|last1=Davy|first1=Humphry|title=Letter to Lord Liverpool, Summer 1815[?]|url=http://www.davy-letters.org.uk/|website=List of letters: Humphry Davy and his circle|access-date=4 May 2017|archive-date=7 June 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170607030315/http://davy-letters.org.uk/|url-status=dead}}</ref>}}<gallery>
File:Davy-1.jpg|1812 copy of "''Elements of Chemical Philosophy''"
File:Davy-2.jpg|Title page of an 1812 copy of "''Elements of Chemical Philosophy''"
File:Davy-4.jpg|Table of contents page of an 1812 copy of "''Elements of Chemical Philosophy''"
File:Davy-5.jpg|Introduction of an 1812 copy of "''Elements of Chemical Philosophy''"
File:Davy-6.jpg|Introduction (continued) of an 1812 copy of "''Elements of Chemical Philosophy''"
</gallery>

===Davy lamp===
[[Image:Davy lamp.png|thumb|200px|upright|The Davy lamp]]
[[Image:HumphryDavyStatueNew2.jpg|right|thumb|200px|Statue of Davy in [[Penzance]], Cornwall, holding his safety lamp]]
{{main|Davy lamp}}

After his return to England in 1815, Davy began experimenting with lamps that could be used safely in coal mines. The Revd Dr Robert Gray of [[Bishopwearmouth]] in Sunderland, founder of the Society for Preventing Accidents in Coalmines, had written to Davy suggesting that he might use his 'extensive stores of chemical knowledge' to address the issue of mining explosions caused by [[firedamp]], or [[methane]] mixed with oxygen, which was often ignited by the open flames of the lamps then used by miners. Incidents such as the [[Felling mine disaster]] of 1812 near [[Newcastle upon Tyne|Newcastle]], in which 92 men were killed, not only caused great loss of life among miners but also meant that their widows and children had to be supported by the public purse. The Revd Gray and a fellow clergyman also working in a north-east mining area, the Revd John Hodgson of [[Jarrow]], were keen that action should be taken to improve underground lighting and especially the lamps used by miners.<ref>Knight, David (1992). Humphry Davy: Science and Power. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 105–06. {{ISBN|0-631-16816-8}}.</ref>

Davy conceived of using an iron gauze to enclose a lamp's flame, and so prevent the methane burning inside the lamp from passing out to the general atmosphere. Although the idea of the [[safety lamp]] had already been demonstrated by [[William Reid Clanny]] and by the then unknown (but later very famous) engineer [[George Stephenson]], Davy's use of [[wire gauze]] to prevent the spread of flame was used by many other inventors in their later designs. George Stephenson's lamp was very popular in the north-east coalfields, and used the same principle of preventing the flame reaching the general atmosphere, but by different means.{{sfn |Holmes |2008 |pp=364–73}} Unfortunately, although the new design of gauze lamp initially did seem to offer protection, it gave much less light, and quickly deteriorated in the wet conditions of most pits. Rusting of the gauze quickly made the lamp unsafe, and the number of deaths from firedamp explosions rose yet further.

There was some discussion as to whether Davy had discovered the principles behind his lamp without the help of the work of [[Smithson Tennant]], but it was generally agreed that the work of the two men had been independent. Davy refused to patent the lamp, and its invention led to his being awarded the [[Rumford medal]] in 1816.<ref name="ODNB" >[[David M. Knight|David Knight]] (2004) [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/7314 "Davy, Sir Humphry, baronet (1778–1829)"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924161719/http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/7314 |date=24 September 2015 }} in ''[[Oxford Dictionary of National Biography]]'', [[Oxford University Press]]</ref>

==== Acid studies ====
In 1815 Davy also suggested that [[acid]]s were substances that contained replaceable [[hydrogen]]&nbsp;ions;– hydrogen that could be partly or totally replaced by [[metals|reactive metals]] which are placed above hydrogen in the reactivity series. When acids reacted with metals they formed [[Salt (chemistry)|salt]]s and hydrogen gas. [[Base (chemistry)|Base]]s were substances that reacted with acids to form salts and water. These definitions worked well for most of the nineteenth century.<ref>HSC, ''Conquering Chemistry'' Fourth Edition p. 146.</ref>

===Herculaneum papyri===
{{main|Herculaneum papyri}}

Davy experimented on fragments of the Herculaneum papyri before his departure to Naples in 1818. His early experiments showed hope of success. In his report to the Royal Society Davy writes that: 
'When a fragment of a brown [[Manuscript|MS.]] in which the layers were strongly adhered, was placed in an atmosphere of chlorine, there was an immediate action, the papyrus smoked and became yellow, and the letters appeared much more distinct; and by the application of heat the layers separated from each other, giving fumes of [[Hydrochloric acid|muriatic acid]].'<ref>[[#Davy, 1821|Davy, 1821]], page 193</ref><ref name="Davy">{{cite journal|last1=Davy|first1=Humphry|title=Some Observations and Experiments on the Papyri Found in the Ruins of Herculaneum|journal=Philosophical Transactions|date=January 1821|volume=111|pages=191–208|jstor=107613|bibcode=1821RSPT..111..191D|doi=10.1098/rstl.1821.0016|doi-access=}}</ref>

The success of the early trials prompted Davy to travel to Naples to conduct further research on the Herculaneum papyri. Accompanied by his wife, they set off on 26 May 1818 to stay in Flanders where Davy was invited by the coal miners to speak.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Davy|first1=John|title=Memoirs of the life of Sir Humphry Davy|url=https://archive.org/details/memoirslifesirh01davygoog|date=1836|publisher=Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, Green & Longman|location=London|page=[https://archive.org/details/memoirslifesirh01davygoog/page/n9 97]}}</ref> They then traveled to Carniola (now Slovenia) which proved to become 'his favourite Alpine retreat' before finally arriving in Italy. In Italy, they befriended Lord Byron in Rome and then went on to travel to Naples.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Knight|first1=David|title=Humphry Davy: Science & Power|date=1992|publisher=Cambridge University Press|location=Cambridge|page=118}}</ref>

Initial experiments were again promising and his work resulted in 'partially unrolling 23 MSS., from which fragments of writing were obtained' <ref name="Davy page 203">[[#Davy, 1821|Davy, 1821]], page 203</ref> but after returning to Naples on 1 December 1819 from a summer in the Alps, Davy complained that 'the Italians at the museum [were] no longer helpful but obstructive'.<ref>page 119 of Knight 1992</ref> Davy decided to renounce further work on the papyri because 'the labour, in itself difficult and unpleasant, been made more so, by the conduct of the persons at the head of this department in the Museum'.<ref name="Davy page 203"/>