| Consolations in Travel: Or, the Last Days of a Philosopher Contributor(s): Davy, Humphry (Author), Davy, John (Editor) |
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ISBN: 1108064248 ISBN-13: 9781108064248 Publisher: Cambridge University Press OUR PRICE: $41.79 Product Type: Paperback - Other Formats Published: May 2013 |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Literary Collections | European - General - Literary Collections | Lgbt - Literary Collections | Women Authors |
| Dewey: 100 |
| Series: Cambridge Library Collection - Life Sciences |
| Physical Information: 0.67" H x 5.5" W x 8.5" (0.84 lbs) 298 pages |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: Arguably the first celebrity scientist, and the epitome of the 'Romantic' natural philosopher, Sir Humphry Davy (1778-1829) was a brilliant lecturer whose popularising of science made him famous. He pioneered electrochemistry, befriended the Romantic poets, invented a safety lamp for miners and even wrote on angling (see On the Safety Lamp and Salmonia, also reissued in this series). Described as 'the last words of a dying Plato', Consolations in Travel was published posthumously in 1830. It is an intriguing mixture of poetry, autobiographical sketches, descriptions of dreams, philosophical musings on the afterlife and, in the view of one contemporary review, 'some matter] which sober reason must dissent as extravagant, and almost bordering on the absurd'. Here, in his final months, Davy turns to the eternal, believing that through science all the questions of the universe could be answered. It remains a poignant and controversial postscript to an illustrious life. |