666 FRAGMENTS OF SCIENCE. 
the voltaic battery. Judged by later knowledge, this first 
machine would be considered cumbrous and defective in 
the extreme; but judged by the light of antecedent events, 
it marked a great step forward. 
Faraday was profoundly interested in the growth of his 
own discovery. The Elder Brethren of the Trinity House 
had had the wisdom to make him their "Scientific 
Adviser;" and it is interesting to notice in his reports 
regarding the light, the mixture of enthusiasm and caution 
which characterized him. Enthusiasm was with him a 
motive power, guided and controlled by a disciplined 
judgment. He rode it as a charger, holding it in by a 
Strong rein. While dealing with Holmes, he states the 
case of the light pro and con. He checks the ardor of the 
inventor, and, as regards cost, rejecting sanguine estimates, 
he insists over and over again on the necessity of continued 
experiment for the solution of this important question. 
His matured opinion was, however, strongly in favor of 
the light. With reference to an experiment made at the 
South Foreland on the 20th of April, 1859, he thus ex- 
presses himself: "The beauty of the light was wonderful. 
At a mile off, the apparent streams of light issuing from 
the lantern were twice as long as those from the lower 
lighthouse, and apparently three or four times as bright. 
The horizontal plane in which they chiefly took their way 
made all above or below it black. The tops of the hills, 
the churches, and the houses illuminated by it were strik- 
ing in their effect upon the eye." Further on in his 
report he expresses himself thus: " In fulfillment of this 
part of my duty, I beg to state that, in my opinion, Pro- 
fessor Holmes has practically established the fitness and 
sufficiency of the magneto-electric light for lighthouse 
purposes, so far as its nature and management are con- 
cerned. The light produced is powerful beyond any other 
that I have yet seen so applied, and in principle may be 
accumulated to any degree; its regularity in the lantern is 
great; its management easy, and its care there may be 
confided to attentive keepers of the ordinary degree of. 
intellect and knowledge." Finally, as regards the conduct 
of Professor Holmes during these memorable experiments, 
it is only fair to add the following remark with which 
Faraday closes the report submitted to the Elder Brethren 
of the Trinity House on the 29th of April; 1859; "I 
