248 GREAT MEN OF SCIENCE 



which are a necessity for the thinker, even if they do not 

 always reveal anything essentially new. In this connection 

 we see that even the most gifted investigator is unable to see 

 ahead far into the unknown, and that his value rather con- 

 sists in exerting his gifts faithfully and with the greatest 

 industry, quite uninfluenced in his steady course by the 

 desire for public success, purely from love of the depth of 

 nature, and - as was the case with Faraday especially - 

 simply from sheer delight in the observation of nature. 



Only a small part of Faraday's whole lifework, which 

 extended over all branches of non-living nature, can be 

 touched upon here. His life from the time when he had 

 found his place among men and had most fortunately at- 

 tained quite early to freedom to exert his powers, was so 

 completely devoted to science, that his life history and the 

 history of his discoveries are necessarily one.^ 



Faraday was the third son of a blacksmith, who had 

 migrated to London soon after his marriage, but came from 

 the north of England (Yorkshire), where Faraday's grand- 

 father was a mason. The family belonged to the small but 

 strict religious sect known as the Sandemanians. After 

 some teaching at school of the simplest description, Fara- 

 day was apprenticed at the age of thirteen to a small book- 

 seller and bookbinder. At first he had to deliver newspapers, 

 later, at the age of seventeen, he was allowed to learn book- 

 binding. Books on chemistry and electricity, which thus 

 came into his hands, captured his attention, and led him to 

 continual further study of books, and also to attending even- 

 ing lectures of a popular scientific character, which were 

 given in his neighbourhood. Finally, a customer of his 

 master aff^orded him the possibility of attending several 



^ For a description of Faraday's life and work many biographies may 

 be consulted (W. R. Burgess, J. C. Geikie, T. H. Gladstone, S. Martin, 

 W. Jerrold, Silvanus P. Thompson). A recent one is by J. A. Crowther, 

 191 8. Life and Letters, by H. B. Jones, and Faraday as a Discoverer, by 

 W. Tyndall, both London, 1870, are the chief older works. 



