The Life and Letters of Faraday/Volume 1/Chapter 1

by Henry Bence Jones

LIFE OF FARADAY.

CHAPTER I.

Early Life—Errand Boy and Bookbinder's Apprentice.

The village of Clapham, in Yorkshire, lies at the foot of Ingleborough, close to a station of the Leeds and Lancaster Railway. Here the parish register between 1708 and 1730 shows that 'Richard ffaraday' recorded the births of ten children. He is described as of Keasden, stonemason and tiler, a 'separatist;' and he died in 1741. No earlier record of Faraday's family can be found.

It seems not unlikely that the birth of an eleventh child, Robert, in 1724, was never registered. Whether this Robert was the son or nephew of Richard cannot be certainly known: however, it is certain that he married Elizabeth Dean, the owner of Clapham Wood Hall.

This Hall was of some beauty, and of a style said to be almost peculiar to the district between Lancaster, Kirkby Lonsdale, and Skipton. The porch had a gable-end and ornamented lintel with the initials of the builder (the proprietor); and the windows, with three or four mullions and label or string-course, had a very good effect. It was partly pulled down some twenty years ago, and a common sort of farm-house built in its place.

It is now little better than a stone cottage. The door opens directly into a kitchen, flagged with four large flags. What remains of the old Hall is, if

CLAPHAM WOOD HALL WITH MILL AS IT WAS. anything, meaner than the dwelling itself. At this Hall Robert and Elizabeth Faraday lived, and had ten children, whose names and birthdays, and callings in after life, so far as they are known, were these:—

Robert; born 1724, died 1786, married 1756 to Elizabeth Dean of Clapham Wood Hall. Richard, born June 16, 1757, was an innholder, slater, grocer. John, born May 19, 1759, was a farmer. James, born May 8, 1761, was a blacksmith. Robert, born February 3, 1763, was a packer in a flax mill. Elizabeth, born June 27, 1765. William, born April 20, 1767, died in July 1791. Jane, born April 27, 1769. Hannah, born August 16, 1771. Thomas, born November 6, 1773, kept a shop. Barnabas, whose birthday is not known, was a shoemaker. The first insight into this large family comes in the year when Faraday was born, through William, who died when he was twenty-four years old, at Clapham Wood Hall. Faraday's grandmother then wrote a letter to Anne Fordyce, to whom her son William

CLAPHAM WOOD HALL AS IT IS.

was engaged to be married. This letter shows the nature and strength of the religious feeling in the family for two generations previous to the birth of Faraday.

"Clapham Wood Hall, July 4, 1791.

'Dear Nancy,—With a troubled mind I write this to you. My dear son is dead. He died on the Sabbath in the evening at seven o'clock. Now, my dear love, I beg you would hear me what I have to say, and be sober. It hath been a great concern on William's mind about you: he was afraid you would feel to an extreme, and it troubled him very much: from this consideration he strove to make all things look as well as he could, and he had some hope within a little of his death that he happen might mend, which is very natural for all people.

'When William began to be worse, he began to be concerned about his everlasting welfare. He sent for Mr. Gorrel and confessed the faith in Christ, and gave Mr. Gorrel and the rest of the brethren great satisfaction.

'William was exceedingly comfortable, and rejoiced exceedingly. He then sent for his clothes, and he thought he would go to Wenning Bank, and join the brethren in public; but both we and the brethren saw there was no chance, but they came to visit him very frequently. I cannot, in a little compass, tell you all that William said, but he rejoiced exceedingly.

'Now, my dear love, I hope you will consider that Providence knows better than we, and I hope this account will serve in some measure to reconcile you, and I shall be very glad to hear from you.

'My children all give their kind love to you. From your affectionate, well-wishing

'Elizabeth Faraday.'

 

The brethren were members of a Sandemanian congregation. The Glasites are said once to have had a chapel at Clapham, with a burial ground attached to it. At present the chapel is converted into a barn, and the windows are walled up. The unconsecrated burial ground is thrown open to the fields, but one or two headstones still remain against the wall of the building.

Several of these congregations were formed in different parts of England by the writings and preaching of Robert Sandeman, the son-in-law of the Reverend John Glas, a Presbyterian clergyman in Scotland. Thus the Church in London was formed in 1760. In 1763 the congregation at Kirkby Stephen numbered between twenty and thirty persons. Sandeman ultimately went to America to make his views known, and he died there in 1771.

In 1728 Glas was deposed by the Presbyterian Church Courts, because he taught that the Church should be subject to no league nor covenant, but be governed only by the doctrines of Christ and His Apostles. He held that Christianity never was, nor could be, the established religion of any nation without becoming the reverse of what it was when first instituted; that Christ did not come to establish any worldly power, but to give a hope of eternal life beyond the grave to His people whom He should choose of His own sovereign will; that the Bible, and that alone, with nothing added to it nor taken away from it by man, was the sole and sufficient guide for each individual, at all times and in all circumstances; that faith in the divinity and work of Christ is the gift of God, and that the evidence of this faith is obedience to the commandments of Christ.

There are two points of practice in the Church which, in relationship to the Life of Faraday, must be mentioned. One of these is the admission into the Church, the other is the election of elders.

Members are received into the Church on the confession of sin, and the profession of faith in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. This profession must be made before the Church in public. The elders first, and afterwards the other members, ask such questions as they think are necessary to satisfy the Church. Prayer is then offered up, a blessing is invoked upon the person received, and he is heartily welcomed and loved for the sake of the truth he has professed.

There must be a plurality of elders (presbyters or bishops) in each Church, and two must be present at every act of discipline. When a vacancy occurs, the elders suggest for election to the congregation one of its members who appears to answer the description of an elder in the New Testament. The election is made by the whole Church unanimously. Earnestness of feeling and sincerity of conviction are the sole requisites for the office, which is entirely unpaid.

With regard to other members of the large family that were born at Clapham Wood Hall, it is known that Faraday's uncle John had a quarry among the hills, and erected a shielding for the use of the men, which in some maps is marked as Faraday House, and the gill which runs by it, in the map of the Ordnance Survey of Westmoreland, is called Faraday Gill. His uncle Thomas was the father of Thomas Armat Faraday, who is now a draper and grocer at Clapham. His father James, who was a blacksmith, was married in 1786 to Margaret Hastwell, a farmer's daughter of Mallestang, near Kirkby Stephen. To James and Margaret Faraday four children were born:—

James; born 1761, died 1810, married 1786 Margaret Hastwell, born 1764, died 1838.

Elizabeth, born 1787.

Robert, born 1788.

Michael, born 1791.

Margaret, born 1802.

James soon after his marriage came to London, and

1791.
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Sept. 22.
Born.

lived at Newington, in Surrey, where his third child, Michael, was born on September 22, 1791. For a short time his home was in Gilbert Street; but about 1796 he moved to rooms over a coach-house in Jacob's Well Mews, Charles Street, Manchester Square:
HOUSE IN JACOB'S WELL MEWS.he then worked as a journeyman at Boyd's in Welbeck Street. He joined the Sandemanian Church after he came to London. His wife, though one of the congregation, never became a member of the Church. During the distress of 1801, when corn was above

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9l. the quarter, Michael, who was nine years old, was given by his parents one loaf weekly, and it had to last him for that time.

In 1807 James wrote to his brother Thomas at Clapham—'I am sorry to say I have not had the pleasure of enjoying one day's health for a long time. Although I am very seldom off work for a whole day together, yet I am under the necessity (through pain) of being from work part of almost every day.' . . . And then, after speaking of some Church matters, he says—'But we, perhaps, ought to leave these matters to the overruling hand of Him who has a sovereign right to do what seemeth good to Him, both in the armies of heaven and amongst the inhabitants of the earth.'

On July 29, 1809, he wrote to the same brother—'I never expect to be clear of the pain completely with which I am afflicted, yet I am glad to say that I am somewhat better than I formerly was. . . .

'We are about to remove very shortly, so that you will be good enough to direct your next as follows—18 Weymouth Street, near Portland Place, London.'

There he died on October 30, 1810.

Faraday's mother died in Islington, in March 1838. 'She was very proud of her son; so much so, that Faraday asked his wife not to talk to his mother so much about him or his honours, saying she was quite proud enough of him, and it would not be good for her. Usually she called him "my Michael." She would do nothing whatever without his advice, and was quite contented and happy in being supported wholly by him in her declining years. She had not had any advantages of education, nor was she able to

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enter at all into her son's pursuits. She was particularly neat and nice in her household arrangements, and exerted herself to the utmost for her husband and children.' The home of Michael Faraday was in Jacob's Well Mews from the time he was five years old until he went to Blandford Street. Very little is known of his life during these eight years. He himself has pointed out where he played at marbles in Spanish Place, and where, at a later period, he took care of his little sister in Manchester Square.
OLD VIEW OF RIEBAU'S SHOP. He says, 'My education was of the most ordinary description, consisting of little more than the rudiments of reading, writing, and arithmetic at a common day-school. My hours out of school were passed at home and in the streets.'

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Only a few yards from Jacob's Well Mews is a bookseller's shop, at No. 2 Blandford Street.

There Faraday went as errand boy, on trial for a year, to Mr. George Riebau, in 1804. He has spoken with much feeling 'that it was his duty, when he first went, to carry round the papers that were lent out by his master. Often on a Sunday morning he got up very early and took them round, and then he had to call for them again; and frequently, when he was told the paper was not done with, "You must call again," he would beg to be allowed to have it; for his next place might be a mile off, and then he would have to return back over the ground again, losing much time, and being very unhappy if he was unable to get home to make himself neat, and to go with his parents to their place of worship.'

He says, 'I remember being charged with being a great questioner when young, but I do not know the nature of the questions.' One instance, however, has been preserved. Having called at a house, possibly to leave a newspaper, whilst waiting for the door to be opened, he put his head through the iron bars that made a separation from the adjoining house; and, whilst in this position, he questioned himself as to which side he was on. The door behind him being opened, he suddenly drew back, and, hitting himself so as to make his nose bleed, he forgot all about his question.

In after life the remembrance of his earliest occupation was often brought to his mind. One of his nieces says that he rarely saw a newspaper boy without making some kind remark about him. Another niece recalls his words on one occasion, 'I always feel a

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tenderness for those boys, because I once carried newspapers myself.'

 

Faraday's indentures as an apprentice are dated October 7, 1805: one line in them is worthy to be kept—'In consideration of his faithful service no premium is given.'

Four years later his father wrote (in 1809), 'Michael is bookbinder and stationer, and is very active at learning his business. He has been most part of four years of his time out of seven. He has a very good master and mistress, and likes his place well. He had a hard time for some while at first going; but, as the old saying goes, he has rather got the head above water, as there is two other boys under him.'

Faraday himself says, 'Whilst an apprentice I loved to read the scientific books which were under my hands, and, amongst them, delighted in Marcet's "Conversations in Chemistry," and the electrical treatises in the "Encyclopædia Britannica." I made such simple experiments in chemistry as could be defrayed in their expense by a few pence per week, and also constructed an electrical machine, first with a glass phial, and afterwards with a real cylinder, as well as other electrical apparatus of a corresponding kind.' He told a friend that Watts 'On the Mind' first made him think, and that his attention was turned to science by the article 'Electricity' in an encyclopædia he was employed to bind.

'My master,' he says, allowed me to go occasionally of an evening to hear the lectures delivered by Mr. Tatum on natural philosophy at his house, 53 Dorset Street, Fleet Street. I obtained a knowledge of these

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lectures by bills in the streets and shop-windows near his house. The hour was eight o'clock in the evening. The charge was one shilling per lecture, and my brother Robert (who was three years older and followed his father's business) made me a present of the money for several. I attended twelve or thirteen lectures between February 19, 1810, and September 26, 1811. It was at these lectures I first became acquainted with Magrath, Newton, Nicol, and others.'

He learned perspective of Mr. Masquerier,^[1] that he might illustrate these lectures. Masquerier lent me Taylor's "Perspective," a 4to volume, which I studied closely, copied all the drawings, and made some other very simple ones, as of cubes or pyramids, or columns in perspective, as exercises of the rules. I was always very fond of copying vignettes and small things in ink; but I fear they were mere copies of the lines, and that I had little or no sense of the general effect and of the power of the lines in producing it.'

In his earliest note-book he wrote down the names of the books and subjects that interested him: this he called '"The Philosophical Miscellany," being a collection of notices, occurrences, events, &c., relating to the arts and sciences, collected from the public papers, reviews, magazines, and other miscellaneous works; intended,' he says, 'to promote both amusement and instruction, and also to corroborate or invalidate those theories which are continually starting

1811.
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into the world of science. Collected by M. Faraday, 1811. 1809-10.'

Among the books and subjects which are mentioned in this volume are, 'Description of a Pyropneumatic Apparatus,' and 'Experiments on the Ocular Spectra of Light and Colours,' by Dr. Darwin, from Ackerman's Repository; 'Lightning,' and Electric Fish and Electricity,' from Gentleman's Magazine; 'Meteorolites,' from the Evangelical Magazine; 'Water Spouts,' from the Zoological Magazine; 'Formation of Snow,' from Sturm's Reflections; 'To loosen Glass Stopples, from the Lady's Magazine; 'To convert two Liquids into a Solid,' 'Oxygen Gas,' 'Hydrogen Gas,' 'Nitric and Carbonic Acid Gas,' 'Oxymuriate of Potash,' from Conversations in Chemistry.

'Galvanism:' 'Mr. Davy has announced to the Royal Society a great discovery in chemistry—the fixed alkalies have been decomposed by the galvanic battery,' from Chemical Observer; 'Galvanism and a Description of a Galvanometer,' from the Literary Panorama.

 

Through Mr. Tatum, Faraday made the acquaintance of Mr. Huxtable, who was then a medical student, and of Mr. Benjamin Abbott, who was a confidential clerk in the city, and belonged to the Society of Friends. Mr. Huxtable lent him the third edition of 'Thomson's Chemistry,' and 'Parkes's Chemistry:' this Faraday bound for his friend. The earliest note of Faraday's that is known to exist was written this year to Mr. Huxtable. It shows a little of the fun and much of the gentleness of his writing at this time:—

Dear Sir,—Tit for tat, says the proverb; and it is

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my earnest wish to make that proverb good in two instances. First, you favoured me with a note a short time since, and I hereby return the compliment; and, secondly, I shall call "tit" upon you next Sunday, and hope that you will come and tea "tat" with me the Sunday after. In short, the object of this note is to obtain your company, if agreeable to your convenience and health (which I hope is perfectly recovered long before this), the Sunday after next.

'This early application is made to prevent prior claims; and I propose to call upon you this day week to arrange what little circumstances may require it.

'In hope that your health is as well as ever, and that all other circumstances are agreeable, I subjoin myself, Sir, yours,

'M. Faraday.'

 

The following are among the few notes which Faraday made of his own life:—

'During my apprenticeship I had the good fortune, through the kindness of Mr. Dance, who was a customer of my master's shop and also a member of the Royal Institution, to hear four of the last lectures of Sir H. Davy in that locality.^[2] The dates of these lectures were February 29, March 14, April 8 and 10, 1812. Of these I made notes, and then wrote out the lectures in a fuller form, interspersing them with such drawings as I could make. The desire to be engaged in scientific occupation, even though of the lowest kind, induced me, whilst an apprentice, to write, in my ignorance of the world and simplicity of my mind, to

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Sir Joseph Banks, then President of the Royal Society. Naturally enough, 'no answer was the reply left with the porter.'

On Sunday, July 12, 1812, three months before his apprenticeship ended, he began to write to Benjamin Abbott, who was a year and a half younger than his friend; but Abbott had been at good schools and was well educated, and hence Faraday regarded him as the possessor of a knowledge far beyond his own. Throughout all his correspondence this deference to his friend's superior school knowledge is always to be seen. These letters Mr. Abbott has most fortunately kept, thinking that at some future time they would be invaluable records of his friend's youth. They show his thoughts when he was 'giving up trade and taking to science,' during the period when the greatest change in the course of his life took place. The first eight were written between July 12 and October 1 in this year, whilst he was still an apprentice in Blandford Street.

They possess an interest almost beyond any other letters which Faraday afterwards wrote. It is difficult to believe that they were written by one who had been a newspaper boy and who was still a bookbinder's apprentice, not yet twenty-one years of age, and whose only education had been the rudiments of reading, writing, and arithmetic.

Had they been written by a highly educated gentleman, they would have been remarkable for the energy, correctness, and fluency of their style, and for the courtesy, kindness, candour, deference, and even humility, of the thoughts they contain.

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FARADAY'S FIRST LETTER TO BENJAMIN ABBOTT.

'Dear A———, Ceremony is useless in many cases, and sometimes impertinent; now between you and me it may not be the last, yet I conceive it is the first: therefore I have banished it at this time. But first let me wish you well, and then I will proceed on to the subject of this letter. Make my respects, too, if you please, to Mr. and Mrs. A., and also to your brother and sister.

'I was lately engaged in conversation with a gentleman who appeared to have a very extensive correspondence for within the space of half an hour he drew observations from two letters that he had received not a fortnight before—one was from Sicily and the other from France. After a while I adverted to his correspondence, and observed that it must be very interesting and a source of great pleasure to himself. He immediately affirmed, with great enthusiasm, that it was one of the purest enjoyments of his life (observe, he, like you and your humble servant, is a bachelor). Much more passed on the subject, but I will not waste your time in recapitulating it. However, let me notice, before I cease from praising and recommending epistolary correspondence, that the great Dr. Isaac Watts (great in all the methods respecting the attainment of learning) recommends it as a very effectual method of improving the mind of the person who writes and the person who receives. Not to forget, too, another strong instance in favour of the practice, I will merely call to your mind the correspondence that passed between Lord Chesterfield and his son. In general, I do not approve of the moral tendency of Lord Chesterfield's letters, but I heartily agree with him respecting the utility of a written correspondence. It, like many other

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good things, can be made to suffer an abuse, but that is no effectual argument against its good effects.

······ 'On looking back, I find, dear A., that I have filled two pages with very uninteresting matter, and was intending to go on with more, had I not suddenly been stopped by the lower edge of the paper. This circumstance (happily for you, for I should have put you to sleep else) has "called back my wand'ring thoughts;" and I will now give you what I at first intended this letter should be wholly composed of—philosophical information and ideas.

'I have lately made a few simple galvanic experiments, merely to illustrate to myself the first principles of the science. I was going to Knight's to obtain some nickel, and bethought me that they had malleable zinc. I inquired and bought some—have you seen any yet? The first portion I obtained was in the thinnest pieces possible—observe, in a flattened state. It was, they informed me, thin enough for the electric stick, or, as I before called it, De Luc's electric column. I obtained it for the purpose of forming discs, with which and copper to make a little battery. The first I completed contained the immense number of seven pairs of plates!!! and of the immense size of halfpence each!!!!!!

'I, Sir, I my own self, cut out seven discs of the size of halfpennies each! I, Sir, covered them with seven halfpence, and I interposed between, seven, or rather six, pieces of paper soaked in a solution of muriate of soda!!! But laugh no longer, dear A.; rather wonder at the effects this trivial power produced. It was sufficient to produce the decomposition of sulphate

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of magnesia—an effect which extremely surprised me; for I did not, could not, have any idea that the agent was competent to the purpose. A thought here struck me; I will tell you. I made the communication between the top and bottom of the pile and the solution with copper wire. Do you conceive that it was the copper that decomposed the earthy sulphate—that part, I mean, immersed in the solution? That a galvanic effect took place I am sure; for both wires became covered in a short time with bubbles of some gas, and a continued stream of very minute bubbles, appearing like small particles, ran through the solution from the negative wire. My proof that the sulphate was decomposed was, that in about two hours the clear solution became turbid: magnesia was suspended in it.

'Seeing the great effect of this small power, I procured from Knight some plate zinc, or sheet zinc I think they call it, about the thickness of pasteboard; from this I cut out discs, and also obtained some sheet copper, and procured discs of that metal. The discs were about 1 inch in diameter. These I piled up as a battery, interposing a solution of the muriate of soda by means of flannel discs of the same size. As yet I have only made one trial, and at that time had, I believe, about eighteen or twenty pairs of plates. With this power I have decomposed the sulphate of magnesia, the sulphate of copper, the acetate of lead, and I at first thought also water, but my conclusions in that respect were perhaps too hastily made.

'I inserted the wires into a portion of water that I took out of the cistern, and of course, in a short time, strong action commenced. A dense—I may really say

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dense—white cloud of matter descended from the positive wire, and bubbles rose rapidly and in quick succession from the negative wire; but after a time I perceived that the action slackened: the white cloud was scarcely perceptible at the wire, though by the former action the lower part of the solution was perfectly opaque and the bubbles nearly ceased. I thought that the action of the battery was exhausted; but in philosophy we do not admit suppositions; and therefore, to prove whether the battery was inert, or whether any principle in the water was exhausted, I substituted a fresh portion of water for that which had been galvanised. Then the action commenced again, and went on as at first. The white precipitate again appeared, and bubbles rose as before; but after a while it ceased, as in the first instance. 'I make no affirmative conclusion from these phenomena, but this I presume, that the water was not decomposed. Our water comes through iron pipes, and is retained in a leaden cistern. I have also ascertained that it holds a small portion of muriatic acid, and have no doubt that it contains carbonic acid. Now, do you think that any part of the lead or iron (the lead I should rather fancy) is held in solution by the muriatic or carbonic acid, and that the bubbles are formed by the precipitation of the metal, whilst the acid—what a blunder! I mean that the bubbles are formed by the escape of the acid and the precipitate—is the metallic oxide? Explain this circumstance to me—will you?—either by your pen or your tongue. Another phenomenon I observed was this: on separating the discs from each other, I found that some of the zinc discs had got a coating—a very superficial one in some

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parts—of metallic copper, and that some of the copper discs had a coating of oxide of zinc. In this case the metals must both have passed through the flannel disc holding the solution of muriate of soda, and they must have passed by each other. I think this circumstance well worth notice, for, remember, no effect takes place without a cause. The deposition, too, of the oxide of zinc in the flannel was curious, and will tend to illustrate the passage of the metals from one side to the other. I cannot describe it with any effect, you must see it; but think of these things, and let me, if you please, Sir, if you please, let me know your opinion.

'And now, dear Sir, to conclude in a manner requisite for the occasion. I heartily beg pardon for thus intruding on your time, your patience, and your good sense. I beseech you, if you will condescend so far, to return me an answer on this occasion, and pray let the refusal of your correspondence be as gentle as possible. Hoping, dear A., that the liberty I have taken will not injure me in your good opinion, I cannot conclude better than by wishing you all the happiness you can enjoy, the completion of all your good and honest wishes, and full health until I communicate with you again, and for ever after.

'I am, dear A., yours sincerely,

'M. Faraday.'

 

'Monday morning, July 13.

'Dear A———, I am just now involved in a fit of vexation. I have an excellent prospect before me, and cannot take it up for want of ability: had I perhaps known as much of mechanics, mathematics,

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mensuration, and drawing, as I do perhaps of some other sciences—that is to say, had I happened to employ my mind with these instead of other sciences—I could have obtained a place—an easy place, too, and that in London—at 5, 6, 7, 800l. per annum. Alas! alas! Inability. I must ask your advice on the subject, and intend, if I can, to see you next Sunday. . . .

I am, dear A., yours sincerely,

'M. Faraday.

'One necessary branch of knowledge would be that of the steam-engine, and, indeed, anything where iron is concerned. Paper out, pen worn down, so good-day to you.'

 

The second letter to Abbott is dated July 20, 1812, Monday evening, ten o'clock.

To an honest man, close buttoned to the chin,Broad cloth without, and a warm heart within.

'Here I am, Sir, on the third page of my paper, and have not yet begun to answer your very kind, free, friendly, instructive, amusing, and very welcome letter; but now I will turn to it and "say my say." For the first part I thank you; and here note that I shall keep you to the following words, "But will not fail to give them a thorough investigation." I like your logic well. Philosophical accounts, scientific inquiries, humble trials. Ha, ha, ha, hah! Don't you charge me with ceremony yet, or whilst your style runs thus.

'I am exceedingly obliged to you for the observation and quotation you have given me respecting Cupid and galvanism, and return my most grateful thanks to you for the remedy you have pointed out

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to me against the attacks of the little god-demon, by Le Sage's pardon. You, no doubt, are aware that this is not the first time that he has been conquered by philosophy and science. The last-named person informs us very minutely in what manner he was shut up in a glass bottle, and rendered incapable of doing mischief. Oh that I were as wise as that Sage, that I could shut little cupids in glass bottles! What exquisite presents they would be to the ladies! and how irresistible would the fair sex be to all who knew not how to oppose them thus unarmed, though I must confess they are not quite so absolute since the discovery of this anti-amorous remedy, galvanism. You will not have forgotten, too, when we set the nitrous oxide in opposition to him; and since galvanism now aids the gas, it is not possible for the little urchin to keep his ground. Farewell to him. I am now going to set my piles in action, in which state I shall leave them all night; and in the morning I will note down what phenomena I shall perceive. . . . . . . Alas! alas! the salt-box is empty, and as it is too late to procure a fresh quantity, I shall wish you all health and happiness, and wish you a good-night.'

 

"Tuesday morning, half-past six o'clock,
and a fine morning.

'Good-day to you, Sir. I now intend to proceed on with my letter from the point where I left off; not exactly though, for as yet I have no salt, and I do not like to substitute any other solution or any acid, because I suspect both the acid and the alkali bear a part in the transmission of the metals. I am exceedingly obliged to you for your ideas on this sub

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ject, and I think I need not say I received it with good-will. I never yet, dear A., received anything from you but what I met with that feeling; and for the rest of the sentence, had I thought that your mind was so narrow as to be chagrined at seeing a better solution of this phenomenon from another person, I certainly should never have commenced this correspondence with you.

'I was this morning called by a trifling circumstance to notice the peculiar motions of camphor on water: I should not have mentioned the simple circumstance but that I thought the effect was owing to electricity, and I supposed that if you were acquainted with the phenomenon, you would notice it. I conceive, too, that a science may be illustrated by those minute actions and effects, almost as much as by more evident and obvious phenomena. Facts are plentiful enough, but we know not how to class them; many are overlooked because they seem uninteresting: but remember that what led Newton to pursue and discover the law of gravity, and ultimately the laws by which worlds revolve, was—the fall of an apple.

'My knife is so bad that I cannot mend my pen with it; it is now covered with copper, having been employed to precipitate that metal from the muriatic acid. This is an excuse—accept it.

 

'Tuesday evening, eleven o'clock.

'I have just finished putting the battery, as you term it, in action, and shall now let it remain for the night, acting on a solution of the muriate of ammonia. This is the disposition made: fifteen plates of zinc and as many of copper are piled up with discs of flannel inter

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posed; fifteen other plates of each metal are formed into a pile with pasteboard, both it and the flannel being soaked in a solution of common salt. These two piles are connected together, and their combined action employed as I before stated. The flash from it, when applied to the gums or eyes, is very vivid, and the action on the tongue, when in contact with the edges, will not allow it to remain there.

'With respect to your second solution of the passage of the metals, I have not time at present to think of it, nor have I room to say more than that I thank you for all on that subject; wait till I have heard of your experiments. Good-night.

 

'Wednesday morning, six o'clock.

'I can now only state facts, opinions you shall have next time. On looking at the pile this morning, I found that the muriate of ammonia had been decomposed, the alkali separated at the negative wire and escaped; this was evident last night by the cloud it formed with muriatic acid. The acid acted on the copper wire, and a muriate of copper was formed; this was again decomposed; and now I find the negative wire covered with a vegetation of copper, and the positive wire eaten away very considerably. The solution is of a fine blue colour, owing to the ammoniate of copper. On turning to the piles, I found the action of one considerable, the other was exhausted: the first contained the flannel discs, and they were yet very moist; the other had the paper discs, and they were quite dry: of course you know why the action ceased? On looking to the state of the plates particularly, I found but one in the pile containing flannel that was in the state I before noticed, that is, it being zinc and

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possessing a coating of copper. In the paper pile not a single zinc plate was affected that way; the copper plates in both piles were covered very considerably with the oxide of zinc. I am aware with you that zinc precipitates copper, and that the metals are oxided, before solution, in acid: but how does that effect their motion from one disc to another in contrary directions? I must trust to your experiments more than my own. I have no time, and the subject requires several.

'M. Faraday.'

 

His third letter to his friend Abbott is dated August 11, 1812. ······ 'I thank you for your electrical experiment, but conceive the subject requires a very numerous series and of very various kind. I intend to repeat it, for I am not exactly satisfied of the division of the charge so as to produce more than one perforation. I should be glad if you would add to your description any conclusion which you by them are induced to make. They would tend to give me a fairer idea of the circumstances.

'I have to notice here a very singular circumstance—namely, a slight dissent of my ideas from you. It is this. You propose not to start one query until the other is resolved, or at least "discussed and experimented upon;" but this I shall hardly allow, for the following reasons. Ideas and thoughts often spring up in my mind, and are again irrevocably lost for want of noting at the time. I fancy it is the same with you, and would therefore wish to have any such objections or unsolved points exactly as they appear to you in their

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full force—that is, immediately after you have first thought of them; for to delay until the subject in hand is exhausted would be to lose all the intervening ideas. Understand, too, that I preserve your communications as a repository into which I can dip for a subject requiring explanation, and therefore the more you insert the more will it deserve that name; nevertheless, I do not mean to desert one subject for another directly it is started, but reserve it as an after subject of consideration.

······ 'Sir H. Davy's book is, I understand, already published, but I have not yet seen it, nor do I know the price or size. It is entitled "Elements of Chemical Philosophy." ······ 'Definitions, dear A., are valuable things; I like them very much, and will be glad, when you meet with clever ones, if you will transcribe them. I am exceedingly well pleased with Dr. Thomson's definition of Chemistry; he calls it the science of insensible motions: "Chemistry is that science which treats of those events or changes in natural bodies which consist of insensible motions," in contradistinction to mechanics, which treats of sensible motions.

'How do you define idleness?

'I forgot to insert a query when at the proper place, though I think an investigation of it would be of importance to the science of chemistry, and perhaps electricity. Several of the metals, when rubbed, emit a peculiar smell, and more particularly tin. Now, smells are generally supposed to be caused by particles of the body that are given off. If so, then it introduces to Page:Lifelettersoffaradayjonesvol1.djvu/47 Page:Lifelettersoffaradayjonesvol1.djvu/48 Page:Lifelettersoffaradayjonesvol1.djvu/49 Page:Lifelettersoffaradayjonesvol1.djvu/50 Page:Lifelettersoffaradayjonesvol1.djvu/51 Page:Lifelettersoffaradayjonesvol1.djvu/52 Page:Lifelettersoffaradayjonesvol1.djvu/53 Page:Lifelettersoffaradayjonesvol1.djvu/54

1. Mr. Masquerier was probably a lodger in Mr. Riebau's house. In Crabb Robinson's Memoirs (vol. iii. p. 375, dated Feb. 18, 1851) it is written, 'At Masquerier's, Brighton. We had calls soon after breakfast. The one to be mentioned was that of Faraday. When he was young, poor, and altogether unknown, Masquerier was kind to him; and now that he is a great man he does not forget his old friend.'
2. He always sat in the gallery over the clock.