The following pages claim no originality, and no merits beyond that of
bringing within reach of every boy and girl material which would
otherwise be available only to those who had extensive libraries at
their command, and much time at their disposal. In the schools and
colleges in which the principles of physical science are well taught,
the history of the discoveries whereby those principles have been
established has been too much neglected. The series to which the
present volume belongs is intended, in some measure, to meet this
deficiency.
A complete history of physical science would, if it could be written,
form a library of considerable dimensions. The following pages deal
only with the biographies of a few distinguished men, who, by birth,
were British subjects, and incidental allusions only are made to
living philosophers; but, notwithstanding these narrow restrictions,
the foundations of the Royal Society of London, of the American
Philosophical Society, of the great Library of Pennsylvania, and of
the Royal Institution, are events, some account of which comes within
the compass of the volume. The gradual development of our knowledge of
electricity, of the mechanical theory of heat, and of the undulatory
theory of optics, will be found delineated in the biographies
selected, though no continuous history is traced in the case of any
one of these branches of physics.
The sources from which the matter contained in the following pages has
been derived have been, in addition to the published works of the
subjects of the several sketches, the following:--
"The Encyclopaedia Britannica."
"Memoir of the Honourable Robert Boyle," by Thomas Birch, M.A.,
prefixed to the folio edition of his works, which was published in
London in 1743.
"Life of Benjamin Franklin," from his own writings, by John Bigelow.
Dr. G. Wilson's "Life of Cavendish," which forms the first volume of
the publications of the Cavendish Society; and the "Electrical
Researches of the Hon. Henry Cavendish, F.R.S.," edited by the late
Professor James Clerk Maxwell.
"The Life of Sir Benjamin Thompson, Count Rumford," by George E.
Ellis, published by the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, in
connection with the complete edition of his works.
"Memoir of Thomas Young," by the late Dean Peacock.
Dr. Bence Jones's "Life of Faraday;" and Professor Tyndall's "Faraday
as a Discoverer."
"Life of James Clerk Maxwell," by Professor Lewis Campbell and William
Garnett.
It is hoped that the perusal of the following sketches may prove as
instructive to the reader as their preparation has been to the writer.