88 FIRESIDE SCIENCE. 



science at this time. Although but little more than 

 half a century has elapsed, it will be seen that this 

 was before the discovery of many of the metals, and 

 consequently before much progress was made in the 

 arts. It was also before the discovery of electro- 

 magnetism. In short, chemistry, at this date, had 

 few claims to be called a science. What a rich 

 field for discovery was open to the young experi- 

 menter, and how well he improved it ! His first 

 published researches were upon the relations be- 

 tween electricity and magnetism, a subject of 

 uncommon interest in 1820, as Oersted had that 

 year made known his great discovery of electro- 

 magnetism. He published a paper entitled " New 

 Electro-Magnetic Motions," and another, " A The- 

 ory of Magnetism," in 1821. In 1823, appeared 

 his paper " Onthe Condensation of Muriatic Acid 

 into the Liquid Form." It was, however, by his 

 " Researches in Electricity " that he won his great- 

 est fame. He commenced the publication of these 

 treatises in 1831, and continued them for a period 

 of nearly thirty years, publishing one or two each 

 year. Some of the most important discoveries are 

 contained in these papers, and show him to have 

 been one of the greatest investigators of natural 

 laws the world has ever seen. 



How strange must Faraday's eventful life have 

 seemed to him in his later years ! Starting from 



