: that this discovery, astounding as it
unquestionably is, is unanticipated.
By reference to the 'Diary of Sir Humphrey Davy' (Cottle and Munroe,
London, pp. 150), it will be seen at pp. 53 and 82, that this
illustrious chemist had not only conceived the idea now in question,
but had actually made no inconsiderable progress, experimentally, in
the very identical analysis now so triumphantly brought to an issue by
Von Kempelen, who although he makes not the slightest allusion to
it, is, without doubt (I say it unhesitatingly, and can prove it, if
required), indebted to the 'Diary' for at least the first hint of
his own undertaking.
The paragraph from the 'Courier and Enquirer,' which is now going
the rounds of the press, and which purports to claim the invention for
a Mr. Kissam, of Brunswick, Maine, appears to me, I confess, a
little apocryphal, for several reasons; although there is nothing
either impossible or very improbable in the statement made. I need not
go into details. My opinion of the paragraph is founded principally
upon its manner. It does not look true. Persons who are narrating
facts, are seldom so particular as Mr.
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