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tically overcome. The public never hear Faraday's name mentioned 

 in connexion with the electric telegraph — scarcely that of Volta ; 

 the public contemplate the flower, but see not the roots from which 

 its petals are fed ; the men wiio have given the telegraph its present 

 practical form are deserving of public esteem, and have obtained 

 both it and more substantial marks of public appreciation ; and yet 

 the merits of Faraday, in comparison with such men, are about in the 

 ratio of Prometheus to Dr. Kahn. Down deep in the mysteries of 

 Nature, he and his great confrere Volta found the forces which 

 pulse through the telegraphic wire. Honour to those who by their 

 mechanical skill have brought these great discoveries home to human 

 hearths, and made them the ministers of society ; but a higher and 

 nobler meed be his who brought us the fire from heaven which 

 imparts life and activity to the telegraphic mechanism. This is 

 the position of Faraday, this the position of Volta, although neither 

 of them even derive the poor breath of popular applause in return 

 for their transcendent services. 



This leads us into sober reflections. The public never can know 

 and appreciate the national value of such a man as Faraday. He 

 does not work to please the public, nor to win its guineas ; and 

 the said public, if asked its opinion as to the practical value of his 

 researches, can see no possible practical issue there. The public 

 does not know that we need prophets more than mechanics in 

 science, — inspired men, who, by patient self-denial and the exercise 

 of the high intellectual gifts of the Creator, bring us intelligence of 

 His doings in Nature. To them their pursuits are good in them- 

 selves. Their chief reward is the delight of being admitted into 

 communion with Nature, the pleasure of tracing out and proclaiming 

 her laws, wholly forgetful whether those laws will ever augment 

 our banker's account or improve our knowledge of cookery. Such, 

 men, though not honoured by the title of ' practical,' are they 

 which make practical men possible. They bring us the tamed 

 forces of Nature, and leave it to others to contrive the machinery 

 to which they may be yoked. The labour of the prophet, as we have 

 called him, is unpurchaseable. Nevertheless he is a man, has the 

 needs of a man, and, as age advances, feels the infirmities of a man. 

 Has such a man no claim upon his country ? We know not what 

 provision has been made for him whose labours are now before us : 

 we only know his services to science and to the public. If we 

 are rightly informed, it was Faradaic electricity which shot the 

 glad tidings of the fall of Sebastopol from Balaklava to Varna. 

 Had this man converted his talent to commercial purposes, as so 

 many do, we should not like to set a limit to his professional 

 income. As before stated, we do not know the equivalent provided 

 by Government for such sacrifices and such services as his, — where 

 he is to rest his noble head when years have showered their snows 

 upon it. The quality of his services cannot be expressed by 

 pounds, but that brave body which for forty years has been the 

 instrument of that great soul, is a fit object for a nation's care, 

 as the achievements of the man are, or will one day be, the object 

 of a nation's pride and gratitude. 



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