LIFE AND LETTERS OF FARADAY 428 



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 

 forehead 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 in- 

 tellectual power, made Faraday a great experimental phi- 

 losopher. 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 su- 

 periority of the organ of vision. Late in life I have heard 

 him say that he could never fully understand an experi- 

 ment until he had seen it. But he did not confine himself 

 to experiment. He aspired to be a teacher, and reflected 

 and wrote upon the method of scientific exposition. "A 

 lecturer," he observes, "should appear easy and collected, 

 undaunted and unconcerned:" still "his whole behavior 

 should evince respect for his audience." These recom- 

 mendations were afterward, in great part, embodied by 

 himself. I doubt his "unconcern," but his fearlessness 

 was often manifested. It used to rise within him as a 

 wave, which carried both him and his audience along 

 with it. On rare occasions also, when he felt himself and 

 his subject hopelessly unintelligible, he suddenly evoked 

 a certain recklessness of thought, and, without halting to 

 extricate his bewildered followers, he would dash alone 

 through the jungle into which he had unwittingly led 

 them; thus saving them from ennui by the exhibition of 

 a vigor which, for the time being, they could neither share 

 nor comprehend. 



