FARADAY. 333 



Roche, Faraday quitted him and bookbinding together. 

 He had heard Davy, copied his lectures, and written to him 

 entreating to be released from trade, which he hated, and 

 enabled to pursue science. Davy recognized the merit of 

 his correspondent, kept his eye upon him, and when oc- 

 casion offered, drove to his door and sent in a letter offer- 

 ing him the post of assistant in the laboratory of the Royal 

 Institution. He was engaged upon March 1, 1812, and on 

 the 8th we find him extracting the sugar from beet-root. 

 He joined the City Philosophical Society which had been 

 founded by Mr. Tatum in 1808. "The discipline was very 

 sturdy, the remarks very plain, and the results most valu- 

 able." Faraday derived great profit from this little asso- 

 ciation. In the laboratory he had a discipline sturdier still. 

 Both Davy and himself were at this time cut and bruised 

 by explosions of chloride of nitrogen. One explosion was 

 so rapid " as to blow my hand open, tear away a part of 

 one nail, and make my fingers so sore that I cannot use 

 them easily." In another experiment " the tube and re- 

 ceiver were blown to pieces ; I got a cut on the head, and 

 Sir Humphry a bruise on his hand." And again, speaking 

 of the same substance, he says : " When put in the pump 

 and exhausted, it stood for a moment, and then exploded 

 with a fearful noise. Both Sir H. and I had masks on, but 

 I escaped this time the best. Sir H. had his face cut in 

 two places about the chin, and a violent blow on the fore- 

 head struck through a considerable thickness of silk and 

 leather." It was this same substance that blew out the 

 eye of Dulong. 



Over and over again, even at this early date, we can 

 discern the quality which, compounded with his rare intel- 

 lectual power, made him a great experimental philosopher. 

 This was his desire to see facts, and not to rest contented 

 with the descriptions of them. He frequently pits the eye 

 against the ear, and affirms the enormous superiority of the 



