LESSONS IN ELECTRICITY; 



TO WHICH IS ADDED 



AN ELEMENTARY LECTURE ON MAGNETISM. 



BY 



JOHN TYNDA'LL, D.C.L., LL.D., F.R.S., 



PROFESSOR OF NATURAL PHILOSOPHY IN THE ROYAL INSTITUTION OF GREAT BRITAIN. 



WITH SIXTY ILLUSTRATIONS. 



PREFACE. 



MORE than fifty years ago the Board 

 of Managers of the Royal Institution re- 

 solved to extend its usefulness, as a centre 

 of scientific instruction, by giving, during 

 the Christmas and Easter holidays of each 

 year, two courses of Lectures suited to 

 the intelligence of boys and girls. 



On December 12th, 1825, a Commit- 

 tee appointed by the Managers reported 

 " that they had consulted Mr. Faraday 

 on the subject of engaging him to take a 

 part in the juvenile lectures proposed to 

 be given during the Christmas and Easter 

 recesses, and they found his occupations 

 were such that it would be exceedingly 

 inconvenient for him to engage in such 

 lectures. ' ' 



Faraday's holding aloof was, however, 

 but temporary, for at Christmas 1827 wf 

 find him giving a " Course of Six Ele- 

 mentary Lectures on Chemistry, adapted 

 to a Juvenile Auditory." 



The Easter lectures were soon aban- 

 doned, but f rcm the date mentioned to the 

 present time the Christmas lectures havn 

 been a marked feature of the Royal In- 

 stitution.* 



Last Christmas it fell to my lot to give 

 one of these courses. I had heard doubts 

 expressed as to the value of science-teach- 

 ing in schools, and I had heard objec- 

 tions urged on the score of the expensive- 

 ness of apparatus. Both doubts and 



* These brief historic references have al- 

 ready appeared in the preface to the " Forms 

 of Water." 



