SCIENTIFIC CHARACTER OF FARAD AT. 257 



assertion." And again, " without experiment I am nothing." 

 But for all this he was in the highest degree imaginative, 

 as his theory of lines of force, and his speculations as to 

 the nature of matter and of ray-vibrations show specu- 

 lations so fine that they will hardly submit to the trammels 

 of language. He early foresaw the doctrine of the con- 

 servation of energy, although he misunderstood it in its 

 scientific expression, and almost all his discoveries may be 

 traced to his firmly-rooted notion that some sort of inter- 

 dependence exists between the various forms of physical 

 actions. He never began a piece of work without a pre- 

 conceived idea, but his strong love of truth preserved him 

 from any bias in the interpretation of his results. He 

 was exceedingly cautious in coming to a final conclusion, 

 and perfectly ready, if need be, to acknowledge failure. 

 In stating a fact, he would use no terms that seemed to 

 imply an hypothesis, he would rather invent a new name 

 than leave room for any misconception. It is hard to 

 know which to praise most, the insight that foresaw a 

 possible discovery, the experimental skill with which the 

 conception was realised and the fact made sure, or the 

 exquisite simplicity and clearness of the language in which 

 the result was expressed.' 1 



Another condition of success in research is enthusiasm. 

 ' That an enthusiastic temper is favourable to the production 

 of great discoveries in science, is a rule that suffers no 

 exception in the character of Beccher. In his preface, 

 addressed " to the benevolent reader " of his " Physica Sub- 

 terranea" he speaks of the chemists as a strange class of 

 mortals, impelled by an almost insane impulse to seek 

 their pleasure among smoke and vapour, soot and flame, 

 poisons and poverty. * Yet among all these evils,' he says, 



1 Telegraphic Journal, vol. v. p. 171. 



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