8 FARADAY 



by my side is a rough model; so much is land and so much 

 is water, and by looking at it here we see in a sort of map 

 or picture how the world is formed upon its surface. Then, 

 when we come to examine farther, I refer you to this 

 sectional diagram of the geological strata of the earth, in 

 which there is a more elaborate view of what is beneath 

 the surface of our globe. And, when we come to dig into 

 or examine it (as man does for his own instruction and 

 advantage, in a variety of ways), we see that it is made up 

 of different kinds of matter, subject to a very few powers; 

 and all disposed in this strange and wonderful way, which 

 gives to man a history and such a history as to what there 

 is in those veins, in those rocks, the ores, the water- 

 springs, the atmosphere around, and all varieties of ma- 

 terial substances, held together by means of forces in 

 one great mass, 8,000 miles in diameter, that the mind is 

 overwhelmed in contemplation of the wonderful history re- 

 lated by these strata (some of which are fine and thin like 

 sheets of paper), all formed in succession by the forces 

 of which I have spoken. 



I now shall try to help your attention to what I may 

 say by directing to-day our thoughts to one kind of power. 

 You see what I mean by the term matter any of these 

 things that I can lay hold of with the hand, or in a bag 

 (for I may take hold of the air by inclosing it in a bag) 

 they are all portions of matter with which we have to deal 

 at present, generally or particularly, as I may require to 

 illustrate my subject. Here is the sort of matter which we 

 call water it is there ice [pointing to a block of ice 

 upon the table], there water [pointing to the water boiling 

 in a flask] here vapor you see it issuing out from the 

 top [of the flask]. Do not suppose that that ice and that 

 water are two entirely different things, or that the steam 

 rising in bubbles and ascending in vapor there is absolutely 

 different from the fluid water: it may be different in some 

 particulars, having reference to the amounts of power which 

 it contains; but it is the same, nevertheless, as the great 

 ocean of water around our globe, and I employ it here for 

 the sake of illustration, because if we look into it we shall 

 find that it supplies us with examples of all the powers to 



