TY  - BOOK
AU  - Mayhew,Henry
AU  - Gilbert,John
TI  - The wonders of science
AV  - QD 
PY  - 2025///
CY  - Salt Lake City, UT
PB  - Project Gutenberg
KW  - Davy, Humphry, Sir, 1778-1829
KW  - Scientists -- Great Britain -- Biography
N1  - Release date is 2025-08-19; Steven desJardins and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net; Original publication data not identified
N2  - "The wonders of science : Or, young Humphry Davy (the Cornish apothecary''s boy,…." by Henry Mayhew is a juvenile biography written in the mid-19th century. It traces the early life, character, and self-education of Humphry Davy, presenting his path from poor Cornish boy to aspiring man of science as an example for young readers, blending moral purpose with lively popular science.  The opening of this work dedicates the story to Michael Faraday and quotes Faraday’s own account of how Davy first encouraged him, then explains the author’s aim: to inspire boys through a largely faithful, readable life of Davy while avoiding outdated science. The narrative begins with Davy’s father’s debts, Mr. Tonkin’s stern stewardship, and a vivid Penzance scene that contrasts local hardship with rising fashions; it then follows Humphry to the Land’s End, where, in grief, he vows to reform and support his widowed mother and siblings. At home he renews that promise, while his mother recalls his precocity; soon she opens a millinery business, Tonkin urges a practical path, and a sunset walk to St. Michael’s Mount becomes a gentle lesson in natural history, physiology, and humane feeling that awakens Humphry’s intellectual hunger. Apprenticed to a local surgeon-apothecary, he resolves to be useful, and a report of a catastrophic coal-mine explosion—highlighting that firedamp ignites by flame but not by sparks—plants an early seed of the ideas that will shape his future. (This is an automatically generated summary.)
UR  - https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/76706
ER  -