Michael Faraday, Man of Science

by Walter Jerrold

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:—