88 FARADAY 



And now let us give place as juveniles to the respect we 

 owe to our elders, and for a time let me address myself to 

 those of our seniors who have honored me with their pres- 

 ence during these lectures. I wish to claim this moment 

 for the purpose of tendering our thanks to them, and my 

 thanks to you all for the way in which you have borne the 

 inconvenience that I at first subjected you to. I hope that 

 the insight which you have here gained into some of the 

 laws by which the universe is governed, may be the occasion 

 of some among you turning your attention to these subjects; 

 for what study is there more fitted to the mind of man than 

 that of the physical sciences? And what is there more capa- 

 ble of giving him an insight into the actions of those laws, a 

 knowledge of which gives interest to the most trifling phe- 

 nomenon of nature, and makes the observing student find 



"Tongues in trees, books In the running brooks, 

 Sermons in stones, and good in every thing?" 



