Free The Age of Wonder by Richard Holmes

Beagle, xvi, 438, 446-7, 455, 461; visits Tahiti, 59n; posits other possible solar systems, 106-7; on biological evolution, 204; theory of evolution by natural selection, 313, 451 & n, 461; refers to Davy’s Consolations in Travel, 430; influenced by John Herschel’s Study of Natural Philosophy, 445, 461; at Cambridge, 460-1; visits Herschels in Cape Town, 462-3; achievements, 468; On the Origin of Species, 445, 451
    Darwin, Erasmus: friendship with Joseph Wright of Derby, xix; on Pilâtre’s death, 155; on early balloonists, 161; on Herschel’s view of cosmos, 197-8; friendship with Beddoes, 250; Coleridge on, 322; and artificial generation of life, 327; and plausibility of Frankenstein, 328; and ‘voice of Love’, 379; Mary Shelley on, 457; The Botanic Garden, 92, 106, 107n, 193, 197, 344
    Datchet, near Windsor, 111, 114, 117
    Davy, Edmund (Humphry’s cousin), 298n
    Davy, Grace (née Millet; Humphry’s mother), 237-9, 250, 253, 259, 266, 268, 343, 397, 412, 414
    Davy, Sir Humphry: discoveries, xx; on Herschel’s discovery of infra-red light, 199; praises Hypatia of Alexandria, 201n, 248; appearance and character, 235-6, 239, 359; Banks’s interest in, 235; poetry, 235, 240, 242, 243, 254, 259-60, 265-6, 268-9, 275-6, 279-80, 300, 354, 360, 378-9, 415-16, 518, 522-3; spoken French, 235, 242; background and upbringing, 236-40, 243; story-telling, 239; apprenticed to Borlase (surgeon-apothecary), 241; career at Royal Institution, 241n, 272, 277, 285, 292; reading, 242-3; early writings, 243, 254-5, 272; keeps diary and notebook, 243-5, 270, 275, 298, 357; interest in chemistry, 244-5, 247, 254-5, 257, 275; on alchemists, 247-8; influenced by Lavoisier, 248-9; early chemical experiments, 249-50; works with Beddoes at Pneumatic Institute, 252-3, 255-9, 263; on human consciousness and physiology, 254-5; near-death from inhaling carbon monoxide, 257-8; experiments with nitrous oxide, 258-67, 269-70, 281, 315n, 348; experiments on self, 258-62, 269-70; friendship and correspondence with Southey, 265, 293; forms friendship with Coleridge, 266-8, 293, 448; first visit to London, 267; belief in science, 268; uses Watt’s portable gas chamber, 269; philosophical and intellectual speculation, 270, 357, 360-1, 424-30, 450; experiments on animals, 271; self-criticism and reappraisal of scientific method, 272; attacked and satirised, 273; interest in electricity, 273-4, 295-6; attracted to Anna Beddoes, 278-81, 288; romantic experiences, 281; and anaesthetic potential of nitrous oxide, 282, 284; leaves Bristol for London, 285; lectures and demonstrations, 285-92, 294-9, 304, 309, 325, 337, 340, 343; publishes papers in Royal Society’s Philosophical Transactions, 286; addiction to nitrous oxide, 287; hints at romantic entanglements, 287-8; success and reputation, 287, 291, 303-4, 438; walking in Wales, 287; on philosophy and romance of science, 288-90; avoids revolutionary declaration, 289-90; attractivenes to young women, 291-2, 337; in cartoons by Rowlandson and Gillray, 291-2; influence on Coleridge and Wordsworth, 291; elected Fellow of Royal Society, 292; salary and payments, 292; and death of Gregory Watt, 293; and idea of soul, 294; awarded Royal Society’s Copley Medal, 295; invites Coleridge to lecture at Royal Institution, 295, 297, 299; visits Lake District, 295; fly-fishing and angling, 297, 337, 346, 349-60, 356, 359, 361, 377, 398, 413-14, 416; patriotism, 297; awards and honours, 299, 352; seriously ill with jail fever, 299, 301; hallucination of beautiful unknown woman, 301, 377-8, 425, 427; and Beddoes’s death, 302; in Walker’s composite portrait, 303; meets and falls for Jane Apreece, 304, 337-41; and Vitalism, 309-10, 421, 428, 431; on ‘mystery’ in life, 313n, 467; interest in Ritter, 328, 330; engagement and marriage to Jane, 342-3; knighthood, 342-3; honeymoon in Scotland, 346; eye injured in explosion, 347-8; research on explosives for war effort, 347; marriage relations, 348-50, 375-6, 397, 400-1,