BENJAMIN THOMPSON, COUNT RUMFORD 45 



the lecturer, in this way securing a position in the Royal Institu- 

 tion, where he discovered that a current of electricity could be 

 generated by passing a wire in front of a magnet, which is ,the 

 essential principle of all our dynamos and motors. The Royal 

 Institution also gave to Dalton, Tyndall and Dewar the opportu- 

 nity to carry on their researches. Dr. Thomas Young, the dis- 

 coverer of the wave theory of light, was chosen by Rumford for 

 the lecturer on physics. If, then, the Royal Institution has failed 

 to carry out some of Rumford's plans for applied science, the 

 discoveries which have been made in the field in which he was 

 equally interested have resulted in greater benefits to mankind 

 than even his imagination could conceive. Were he living now, 

 he would not find reason to deplore, as he often did, the conserva- 

 tism of manufacturers and the delay in the application of scientific 

 discoveries to practical purposes, although he might still argue, 

 as he used to do, that the promotion of invention by commerical 

 and selfish motives is wasteful and unsystematic. 



Although Count Rumford's genius eminently fitted him for plan- 

 ning and promoting the establishment of such institutions, his 

 temperament was not such as to enable him to work well as one 

 of a number of managers who all regarded themselves entitled to 

 as much consideration and authority as himself. His dictatorial 

 manner and fondness for having his own way caused some friction 

 in the conduct of affairs. His health was poor, and his sensitive 

 nature was excessively irritated by the savage attacks of the 

 reviewers and satirists of the time upon his scientific and philan- 

 thropic work. The Royal Institution was ridiculed as an attempt 

 to make science fashionable, and his efforts in behalf of the poor 

 were attacked on two different grounds, by the radicals as an 

 attempt to squeeze down the poor to a lower standard of life by 

 feeding them on such stuff as Indian corn and potatoes; and, on 

 the other hand, by aristocrats, because it was dangerous to society 

 to instil into the minds of the lower classes ideas above their sta- 

 tion. It was thought to be a degradation of science to apply it to 

 such ignoble purposes as stoves and pots. Peter Pindar, for ex- 

 ample, writes: 



