THIRD MARQUESS OF SALISBURY 305
From his early days chemistry fascinated him ; later on he took up electricity, and when electric light was installed at Hatfield he planned and superintended the work, of which he was immensely proud. Of his article on photography, which appeared in the Quarterly Review (October, 1864), it has been said : ' There is no more lucid account of the chemistry of photography extant. Even at this distance of time, it may be read in preference to many a modern manual. Full of valuable suggestion, it anticipates not a few of the recent artistic and scientific achievements of photography." x In 1894 the British Association acknowledged his scientific attainments by electing him President, and he delivered a thoughtful and characteristic address on " Evolution."
As a statesman he will live in history as one of the greatest of the foreign ministers of Great Britain. In domestic legislation he left little mark. For he did not share the strange belief, which grew up in the nineteenth century and persists, in spite of all experience, to this day, that social evils can be remedied by revolutionary Acts of Parliament. Such reforms as " commend themselves to sober and patriotic opinion, and leave no resentment behind," he was always willing and anxious to further, but he held that " the proper legislative work of Parliament was to deal with matters on which parties do not contend," and that "it is detained from its normal labours by the perpetual intrusion of
1 Quarterly Review, January, 1904, p. 299.
c. x
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