THE ROYAL INSTITUTION OF GREAT BRITAIN. 223 



tliem in his eyes ; nor will it fail to Tecognize in him a penetrating and exact 

 reasoner, endowed with powers of imagination which conimnnicate a degree of 

 poetic vigor to his conceptions ; a genius of extraordinary resonrces when exper- 

 iments are to be devised for realizing his ideas, and singularly skilful in execut- 

 ing them ; a scientific writer, clear, candid, and judicious, and often rising to 

 eloquence, when the grandeur of the subject is capable of inspiring enthu- 

 siasm." — Qnarkrhi lieciew, No. LXXIX. 



Mr. Faraday received from the Universit\' of Oxford the degree of doctor of 

 laws, in 1832, the same year when it was conferred on Dalton. He is one of 

 the eight foreign associates of the French Academy of Sciences, as were also 

 his distinguished predecessors, Davy, Young, Dalton, and Count llutnfurd, the 

 founder of the establishment. He is regarded, in England, as the boast and 

 sta}^, decits ct futamcn, of the Royal Institution. 



XV. — Mil. JOHN TYifDALL, rKOFESSOR OF NATURAL PHILOSOPHY SINCE 1853. 



The professor of natural philosophy at the Institution has, from 1853, been 

 Ml". John Tyndall, doctor in philosophy of the University of Marbin-g. He 

 was born at London, July 21, 1820, and pursued his studies at Marl)urg and 

 Berlin ; he is known as the author of numerous researches on the glaciers, and 

 a work entitled Heat Considered as a Mode of Movement, a course of twelve 

 lectures delivered at the Royal Institution, and which has been translated into 

 French by the Abbe Moigno. 



The theory set forth in these lectures considers heat as an effect of a move- 

 ment of vibration communicated to the molecules of bodies. Count Rumford, 

 who was the originator of this theory, " recognized a proof of it in the continual 

 production of heat which takes place from movement. The boring of a bronze 

 cannon, for instance, in a short time throws the water into ebullition, and this 

 ebullition lasting as long as the movement which produced it, he found it diffi- 

 cult to conceive how, in such a case, a matter of any kind could be disengaged; 

 for then it would necessarily l>e inexhaustible." (G. Cuvier, Eloge Hisforique de 

 Bumford.J The molecnlar movement may be generated by friction, percussion, 

 and compression, as well as by combustion. The mutual convertibility of heat 

 and mechanical action has been demonstrated, and it is practical>lo to calculate 

 the mechanical equivalent of heat, b\' which is to be understood the weight which, 

 raised to the height of one metre, is the equivalent of the heat necessary to 

 raise by one degree centigrade the temperature of a kilogram of water.* 



XVI. — Chairs founded at the PvOtal institution by me. john fullePv. — 



THE prize founded BY MRS. ^ CTON. THE PRESENT ORGANIZATION OF 



THE INSTITUTION. 



In 1833 Mr. John Fuller founded, at the Royal Institution, two chairs, one 

 of chemistry, the other of physiology ; the former was given for life to Mr. 

 Faraday ; the incumbent of the latter is elected every third year. The two 

 professors bear the name of FulJerian Professor, from the name of the founder. 

 In 1838, Mrs. Acton invested the sum of c£l,O00, from the interest of which 

 the Institution is to award, once in seven years, 100 guineas to the author of 

 the best essay on the benevolence of the Almighty as manifested by scientific 

 discoveries. 



The Royal Institution of Great Britain is under the patronage of Queen Vic- 

 toria. The charter granted it by George III, in 1800, was confirmed and 

 extended, in 1810, by act of Parliament. It is an association of persons devoted 



* The labor which consists in raising 425 kilograms to the height of a metre is capable 

 of being produced by the quantity of heat requisite to raise by one degree the temperature 

 of a kilogram of water: in other words, 425 kUugrammctres are equivalent to a caloric. 



