NOTES ON HIS WORK.
"So that I draw the breath of finer air
Station is nought, nor footways laurel-strewn,
Nor rivals tightly belted for the race.
God speed to them! My place is here or there;
My pride is that among them I have place:
And thus I keep this instrument in tune."
GEORGE MEREDITH.
In treating of the life-story of Michael Faraday I have let particulars
as to his various experiments and discoveries interfere as little as
possible with the continuity of the narrative, and have thought it
advisable to slightly refer to them in a special chapter. The value of
his contributions to our fund of scientific knowledge is made manifest
by the fact that whatever book on electricity and allied subjects we
may take up now--works even bringing the science down to the very
latest date--we always find the name and experiments of Michael Faraday
quoted with great respect as a leader and an unquestioned authority.
Indeed, our debt to him for his electrical work is incalculable; we are
now seeing the electric light carried day by day into more streets,
lighting more public places, nay, even being used in illuminating
private buildings. This light we owe, primarily, to Michael Faraday.
Writing nearly a quarter of a century ago Professor Tyndall answers
this question as to "What is the use of it all?" thus explicitly and
unhesitatingly--"As far as electricity has been applied for medical
purposes, it has been almost exclusively Faraday's electricity. You
have noticed those lines of wire which cross the streets of London.
It is Faraday's currents that speed from place to place through
these wires. Approaching the point of Dungeness the mariner sees an
unusually brilliant light, and from the noble _phares_ of La Hève the
same light flashes across the sea. These are Faraday's sparks exalted
by suitable machinery to sunlike splendour. At the present moment the
Board of Trade and the Brethren of the Trinity House, as well as the
Commissioners of Northern Lights, are contemplating the introduction
of the Magneto-electric Light at numerous points upon our coasts;
and future generations will be able to refer to those guiding stars
in answer to the question, What has been the practical use of the
labours of Faraday? But I would again emphatically say that his work
needs no such justification; and that if he had allowed his vision
to be disturbed by considerations regarding the practical use of his
discoveries, those discoveries would never have been made by him."
In one of his very earliest lectures delivered before the City
Philosophical Society on the subject of chlorine,[11] Faraday referred
to the question too often and too thoughtlessly put on hearing of a
new discovery. "Before leaving this subject," he said, "I will point
out the history of this substance, as an answer to those who are in
the habit of saying to every new fact, 'What is its use?' Benjamin
Franklin says to such, 'What is the use of an infant?' The answer of
the experimentalist is, 'endeavour to make it useful.'" Truly the
infant Electricity has already grown to goodly proportions. It is to
his researches in connection with electrical science that we must look
for the chief result of Faraday's work. His later years were almost
exclusively taken up in the investigation of this fascinating subject.
The value of his contributions to the sum of knowledge on this new
branch of science was testified to in a remarkable manner during
the past summer, when the centenary of his birth was celebrated in
a fitting manner at that Institution which had been a "home" to him
for so many years. It was indeed an unique incident in the history of
modern science, when on the 17th of June, 1891, many of the leading
living scientists met in the theatre of the Royal Institution to hear
a lecture by Lord Rayleigh on the life-work of "one of England's
greatest worthies." "A quarter of a century has not elapsed," wrote a
contemporary journal,[12] "since his death, and yet we find the highest
nobles of the land vieing with the most illustrious professors of our
own and of foreign universities in testifying their admiration for this
man of the people, who rose to be a leader of scientific men." "When
the history of electricity comes to be written," continues the same
authority, "a chapter of great extent and first importance must be
given to the prolific life-work of Faraday. He will be pointed to as
the man who in the middle of the nineteenth century, waged an energetic
and relentless warfare against the two fluid theories in electricity
and magnetism, and who dealt its death-blow to the theory of action
at a distance. And to show the powerful influence his master-mind
exercised over contemporary science, the historian may merely refer
to Clerk-Maxwell, Sir William Thomson, Rayleigh, Tyndall, and others,
all admiring disciples and professed followers of the great Michael
Faraday."
The meeting that thus did honour to the memory of Faraday, was probably
the most fitting method of celebrating the anniversary of his birth
that could have been devised; it was, we may feel sure, just such a
celebration as Faraday would have felt most proud of. Wealth and social
rank, as we have seen throughout his life, had no attraction for him;
but he _did_ like to receive the appreciation of capable men, in whose
appreciation he found the highest honour to which it was possible to
attain.
Some of Faraday's earliest experiments, as was incidentally mentioned
in an earlier part of this little book, were in connection with
chlorine, etc., and then on the making of glass for optical purposes;
and it was not, indeed, until he had been at the Institution for about
eighteen years that he really entered with any degree of success into
his electrical research. Here it is of interest to note a remark which
he once made in this connection to the effect that it requires twenty
years of work to make a _man_ in physical science, the whole of the
previous period being one of _infancy_. Once, however, he had reached
this scientific manhood his work was done with remarkable rapidity; he
would, once on the track, so to speak, of a discovery, mature it in
a space of time so short as to be nothing less than marvellous; and
one after another of his "experimental researches" were carried out,
completed, described, and the resultant paper submitted to the Royal
Society with a rapidity, and at the same time with an accuracy which
has never been equalled. He was asked once what was the secret of his
success, and answered that the whole secret might be told in three
words, they were these "Work--Finish--Publish." Perhaps the centre word
is the one on which Faraday would himself have lain most stress--he was
always careful to finish everything before he announced it, which makes
his almost unexceptional accuracy, considering the rapidity with which
he worked, even more remarkable. It is, however, not inaccurate to say
that the results which he definitely announced, were never found to be
wrong; further developments have of course taken place, but the result
of a research as announced by him was never found to be untrue, and has
never had to be put aside.
He had said, in the early part of his scientific career, "the thing
that I am proudest of is that I have never been found to be wrong."
And after the death of his friend, Professor A. de la Rive wrote,
"I do not think that Faraday has once been caught in a mistake; so
precise and conscientious was his mode of experimenting and observing."
Dr. Gladstone commenting upon this says, "The extreme rarity of
his mistakes, notwithstanding the immense amount of his published
researches, is one of those marvels which can be appreciated only by
those who are in the habit of describing what they have seen in the
mist-land that lies beyond the boundaries of previous knowledge."
The proper treatment of Faraday's discoveries could of course only be
undertaken by one who was himself a scientist; the technicalities of
the laboratory and the lecture-theatre would be somewhat out of place
in a book such as this, which but aims at presenting in a popular
form the facts in connection with the life of one of the greatest of
England's scientists--one of the best of her sons. It may, however,
here be pointed out that to those who would become acquainted with the
details of Faraday's scientific work, with particulars of his numerous
experiments, a delightful introduction has been afforded by Professor
Tyndall, who in his little work on _Faraday as a Discoverer_, has
summarised much of the great man's work, and explains in a clear and
delightful manner much about the experiments which were undertaken and
the discoveries which were made by his illustrious predecessor and
friend. It is of interest to notice here what discovery of Faraday
it is which Tyndall selects as the greatest--it is the discovery of
electro-magnetism, of which he says: "The beauty and exactitude of the
results of this investigation are extraordinary. I cannot help thinking
while I dwell upon them, that this discovery of magneto-electricity is
the greatest experimental result ever obtained by an investigator.
It is the Mont Blanc of Faraday's own achievements. He always worked
at great elevations, but a higher than this he never subsequently
attained."
The following impromptu lines with reference to Faraday's great
discovery of magneto-electricity were written by Herbert Mayo:--
"Around the magnet Faraday
Was sure that Volta's lightnings play,
But how to draw them from the wire?
He drew a lesson from the heart.--
'Tis when we meet, 'tis when we part,
Breaks forth th' electric fire."
Of this same subject Tyndall wrote shortly after Faraday's
death:--"Seven and thirty years have passed since the discovery of
magneto-electricity; but, if we except the _extra current_, until
quite recently nothing of moment was added to the subject. Faraday
entertained the opinion that the discoverer of a great law or principle
had a right to the 'spoils'--this was his term--arising from its
illustration; and guided by the principle he had discovered, his
wonderful mind, aided by his wonderful ten fingers, overran in a single
autumn this vast domain, and hardly left behind him the shred of a fact
to be gathered by his successors."
This indeed is a quality which has been insisted upon by all who have
as fellow scientists treated of the work which was done by Michael
Faraday,--this quality, that is, of completion, of thoroughness in
finishing that which he had commenced; he seemed to become aware almost
as though by intuition of the full meaning of a discovery, and of its
true bearing with regard to previous knowledge.
Great as was Faraday's work in the service of science he not only did
not aim at, but he frequently declined to accept what many men would
have considered but just reward. He was a chemist, a scientist, a
philosopher (to give him the name which he best liked, and of which
he felt most proud), and did his work as such from the purest love
for it, as I have tried to show in earlier chapters. He did not seek
worldly position--he was above it; he did not seek for wealth, he had
no use for it, as his wants were of the simplest; he did not seek
for popular applause, for the suffrage of the multitude; but what
he did all his life long most earnestly and most faithfully strive
for was--Truth. He ever aimed at fulfilling what the Laureate has
beautifully expressed in his dedication to _In Memoriam_ wherein he
says--
"Let knowledge grow from more to more,
And more of reverence in us dwell,
That mind and soul according well
May make one music as before,
But vaster."
He sought to make knowledge grow from more to more, but it is to be
recollected that he never for one more moment swerved from his faithful
adherence to his Church. In all his research among physical phenomena
he was never led to doubt, as some have done, the truth of that
religion in which he always maintained a sincere and beautiful faith;
his religion was, indeed, always a something far above his science, a
something sacred and of moment to himself, as a single soul. We saw in
his reply to his wife on his formally entering the Sandemanian Church
shortly after his marriage, what was his attitude on this question. It
was, as he had said, a matter between himself and his God; and thus
we find in what he has written but very little about his religion,
although one or two of his letters to relations, where he has been
directly appealed to, breathe the sincere and earnest devotion of the
man, and his true Christian spirit. His whole life was, however, a
practical expression of his religious faith; as is shown to us by what
has been said or written by all who came in contact with him.
The following tribute to his memory from Monsieur Dumas is yet one
further proof of the universal feeling which his friendship inspired,
"I do not know whether there is a _savant_ who would not feel happy
in leaving behind him such works as those with which Faraday has
gladdened his contemporaries, and which he has left as a legacy to
posterity; but I am certain that all those who have known him would
wish to approach that moral perfection which he attained to without
effort. In him it appeared to be a natural grace, which made him a
professor, full of ardour for the diffusion of truth, an indefatigable
worker, full of enthusiasm and sprightliness in his laboratory, the
best and most amiable of men in the bosom of his family, and the most
enlightened preacher among the humble flock whose faith he followed.
"The simplicity of his heart, his candour, his ardent love of the
truth, his fellow interest in all the successes, and ingenuous
admiration of all the discoveries of others, his natural modesty in
regard to what he himself discovered, his noble soul--independent and
bold--all these combined gave an incomparable charm to the illustrious
physicist.
"I have never known a man more worthy of being loved,--of being
admired,--of being mourned. Fidelity to his religious faith, and
the constant observance of the moral law, constitute the ruling
characteristics of his life.... There is more than one useful lesson
to be learnt from the proper study of this illustrious man, whose
youth endured poverty with dignity, whose mature age bore honours with
moderation, and whose last years passed gently away surrounded by marks
of respect and tender affection."
Several stories are told that illustrate the constant habit of
experimenting which seemed to be innate in Faraday's mind, and also
show how simple were the means which he often adopted to attain a
required end. An example of the latter is given us by Sir Frederick
Arrow in describing a visit which he, as one of the Committee of the
Elder Brethren of the Trinity House, paid, to observe the Dungeness
electric light, in June 1862. The committee accompanied Faraday, who
had always been a most energetic worker in the cause of the Trinity
House.
"We dined," says Sir Frederick Arrow, "I think at Dover, and embarked
in the yacht from there, and were out for some hours watching it, to
Faraday's great delight--(a very fine night)--and especially we did
so from the Varne lightship about equi-distant between it and the
French light of Grisnez, using all our best glasses and photometers
to ascertain the relative value of the lights; and this brings me to
my story. Before we left Dover, Faraday, with his usual bright smile,
in great glee showed me a little common paper-box, and said, 'I must
take care of this; it's my special photometer,'--and then, opening
it, produced a lady's ordinary black shawl pin--jet, or imitation
perhaps--and then, holding it a little way off the candle, showed me
the image very distinct; and then putting it a little further off,
placed another candle near it, and the relative distance was shown by
the size of the image. He lent me this afterwards when we were at the
Varne lightship, and it acted admirably; ever since I have used one as
a very convenient mode of observing, and I never do so but I think of
that night and dear good Faraday, and his genial happy way of showing
how even common things may be made useful."
Such men as had occasion to work in the laboratory with Faraday, were
always struck by his lively enthusiasm, and the great activity with
which he worked--"his motions were wonderfully rapid; and if he had to
cross the laboratory for anything, he did not walk at an ordinary step
but ran for it, and when he wanted anything he spoke quickly."
In his methods of working he was most exact. Having carefully planned
out in his own mind work to be done, he would enter the laboratory,
and with his table unencumbered with anything beyond such things as he
was using, would set to work in a grave, silent manner. After a time,
however, as the experiment proceeded and the result which he had
anticipated began to manifest itself, he would begin humming a tune,
and even speak to his attendant of the expected result. On finishing
such experimental work for the day, everything had to be put carefully
away, all bottles stoppered, open vessels covered over, all instruments
and materials returned to their various drawers, all rubbish cleared
from the floor, and the laboratory left ready for the Professor to
start work again. Faraday would then go upstairs to his study, and
think further on the subject on which he happened to be working.
In his later years we are told that he invariably carried about with
him convenient sized cards on which he could jot down at once--in the
street, in the lecture room, at a friend's, indeed anywhere--such
thoughts as should flash across his mind.
A few words deserve to be said with regard to Sergeant Anderson, who
for over thirty years acted as Faraday's laboratory assistant at the
Royal Institution. In 1829, when Faraday was working at experiments on
the manufacture of glass for optical purposes, a special furnace was
erected at the Royal Institution, and Anderson was engaged to assist at
it. After the glass experiments were over, however, Anderson, who had
demonstrated his usefulness, was retained, and he continued throughout
the rest of Faraday's life as his assistant, having won the good
opinion not only of the Professor but of all with whom he had anything
to do. There is one good story told of Anderson, who had been chosen
for his post on account of the habits of strict obedience, which his
military training had given him. His duty was to keep the furnaces
always at the same heat, and the water in the ashpit always at the same
level. In the evening he was released; but one night Faraday forgot to
tell Anderson he could go, and early next morning he found his faithful
servant still stoking the glowing furnace, as he had been doing all
night long.
FOOTNOTES:
[11] A non-metallic element first discovered in 1774 by Scheele, and
the subject of much research to succeeding chemists.
[12] _Engineering_ for June 19th, 1891.
[Illustration]