MEMOIR OF DAXIEL TREADWELL. 387 



low, soft voice, with an earnest and insinnating niainicr, is very quick in his delivery, and in 

 his experiments apparently desirous of doing as much as possible in his hour. He is very 

 dexterous in his operations, and does not seem satisfied unless his experiments succeed per- 

 fectly and strikingly. He sometimes uses words too strong for the subject, as by calling 

 things " very wonderful " which are only a little wonderful ; but here the fault seems to 

 he a misconception of the thing, (if I may say so,) or perhaps a desire to magnify for 

 rhetorical effect. 



At the close of his lecture, Mr. Faraday alluded to the expected discovery of the new 

 principle " which shall embrace all the laws of the actions and dispositions of bodies, as gravi- 

 tation, electricity, heat, etc.," and said he believed that they would be found to be one, and 

 to consist of some kind of vibration : but he did not show that he had any very clear notions on 

 the subject. 



Saturday, May 16, 1835. 



Went again to the Royal Institution to hear Mr. Faraday's lecture in his regular course of 

 chemistry to the members of the Institution. The room was well filled, many ladies being 

 present, sitting with the gentlemen, which was not the case yesterday. The subject of the 

 lecture was Lead. . . . Mr. Faraday then said that lead was highly inflammable, and burned it, 

 first, by the electrical machine, secondly, by a stream of oxygen on charcoal, and thirdly, he had 

 some granulated lead obtained by chemical means, that he said he believed was reduced to its 

 primitive atoms. This was sealed up in glass tubes, and on breaking the tubes and letting the 

 lead out, it inflamed spontaneously. . . . 



The lecture was good and much liked by the audience. He showed all the peculiarities 

 before noticed. Great fluency, readiness with the hand, simple and clear explanations, and a 

 strong desire to give information. There were so many ladies crowding round him at the close 

 of the lecture, that, after waiting half an hour, and seeing no chance of their leaving, I came 

 away without passing a word with him. 



Manchester, June 9, 1835. 

 ... I brought from Boston a dijiloma of the American Academy to Dr. Dalton,* the chemist 

 of this place, and I this morning set about finding him. I had found in one directory that he 

 was in 40 George Street, within two hundred yards of my hotel ; but in another his name did 

 not appear, and on the whole the search for him was the reading a serious lesson on reputation. 

 I inquired of the innkeeper, who told me I should find Dr. Dalton in George Street. I then 

 asked at the coach-stand close in the vicinity, where half a dozen hackmen were standing 

 together. They repeated the name and looked ruminatingly upon it, but gave it up, never 

 having heard it before. Next I went to a druggist's shop ; no one here knew where he lived, 

 although they had heard of such a person. Then to another druggist, who told me he lived in 

 Faulkner Street. I went there, and at last hit upon the house where he lodged, but he was at 

 his rooms in George Street, and to his rooms I went. I found a moderately sized brick house, 

 like a public oilfice or school-house, without any mark to designate to what purpose it was 

 assigned, and without bell or knocker. I went in, and knocking at an inner door, a head, 

 which I at once recognized from his bust to be Dr. Dalton's, was presented from a door oppo- 

 site. I inquired for Dr. Dalton, and was told, " I am he " ; on which I said I had charge of a 

 communication for him, and I was desired to walk in. The room had several forms, and oa 



* John Dullon, the celebrated physicist, and founder of the atomic theory of chemistry. 



