262 GREAT MEN OF SCIENCE 



discoveries also brought him much recognition from distant 

 parts. All such signs of goodwill which fell to him he ac- 

 cepted with the greatest warmth and at the same time 

 modesty; but it would nevertheless be a mistake to suppose 

 that his fiery nature and his feeling for a just estimate of 

 humanity did not become evident when he felt that he was in 

 contact with worthless people. Thus he says for example, 

 in a confidential letter (written in 1853) that he prefers the 

 obedience, faithfulness, and instinct of a dog by far to the 

 average stupidity of mankind. 



In many respects he united in himself the most strongly 

 marked qualities, which might appear to the un-understand- 

 ing as opposed to one another, but this was the distinguish- 

 ing characteristic of his rich nature. Thus he was, as he 

 once himself affirmed, always very much inclined from his 

 youth upwards to regard the most incredible things as ac- 

 ceptable; but a single fact determined by observation always 

 sufficed to destroy a structure in thought, no matter how 

 beautiful; and however much pleasure he had had in erecting 

 such structure, his final and unconditional guide in every 

 respect was truth, agreement with reality. In one of his 

 experimental investigations he thus describes his ideal of the 

 man of science; enthusiastic, but careful, linking experiment 

 with analogies, mistrustful of preconceived ideas, regarding 

 a fact as more valuable than a theory, not hasty in generalisa- 

 tion, and above all prepared to test his own opinions at every 

 step afresh both by consideration and observation.^ He 

 himself fulfilled this ideal in the fullest possible manner, and 

 his character as a man of science was his character alto- 

 gether and in everything; great minds have never been 

 divided against themselves. 



He wished to have only his relatives and his nearest 



^Experimental Researches in Electricity, London, 1839, vol i, page 

 360; No. 1 16 1. These have been issued as cheap reprints in the Every- 

 man Library. 



