THE FUNCTIONS OF A UNIVERSITY 235 



happen under conditions, all of which have never before 

 been seen to be present together. 



When Faraday discovered the fact that if a magnet 

 is made to approach a coil of wire, an electric current is 

 induced in that wire, he made a discovery which at the 

 time was of only scientific interest. That discovery has 

 resulted in electric light, electric traction, and the utilisa- 

 tion of electricity as a motive power ; the development of 

 a means of transmitting energy, of which we have by no 

 means seen the end; nay, we are even now only at its 

 inception, so great must the advance in its utilisation 

 ultimately become. 



When Hofmann set Perkin as a young student to 

 investigate the products of oxidation of the base aniline, 

 produced by him from coal-tar, it would have been 

 impossible to have predicted that one manufactory alone 

 would possess nearly 400 large buildings and employ 

 5000 workmen, living in its own town of 25,000 inhabi- 

 tants, all of which is devoted to the manufacture of colours 

 from aniline and other coal-tar products. In this work 

 alone at least 350 chemists are employed, most of whom 

 have had a university training. 



Schonbein, a Swiss schoolmaster, interested in chemistry, 

 was struck by the action of nitric acid on paper and 

 cotton. He would have been astounded if he had been 

 told that his experiments would have resulted in the 

 employment of his nitrocelluloses in colossal quantity for 

 blasting, and for ordnance of all kinds, from the 90- ton 

 gun to the fowling-piece. 



But discoveries such as these, which lead directly to 

 practical results, are yet far inferior in importance to 

 others in which a general principle is involved. Joule 

 and Robert Mayer, who proved the equivalence of heat 

 and work, have had far more influence on succeeding ages 

 than even the discoverers above mentioned, for they have 



