LIFE AND LETTERS OF FARADAY 437 



pile, and had obtained with it results of the greatest im- 

 portance. But they were not appreciated. With the sick- 

 ness of disappointed hope, Melloni waited for the report 

 of the Commissioners, appointed by the Academy of Sci- 

 ences to examine the Primier. At length he published 

 his researches in the "Annales de Chimie.** They thus 

 fell into the hands of Faraday, who, discerning at once 

 their extraordinary merit, obtained for their author the 

 Rumford Medal of the Eoyal Society. A sum of money 

 always accompanies this medal; and the pecuniary help 

 was, at this time, even more essential than the mark 

 of honor to the young refugee. Melloni 's gratitude was 

 boundless: 



"Et vous, monsieur," he writes to Faraday, '*qui ap- 

 partenez a une socidte ^ laquelle je n'avais rien offert, 

 vous qui me connaissiez k peine de nom; vous n*avez pas 

 demande si j' avals des ennemis faibles ou puissants, ni 

 calculd quel en etait le nombre; mais vous avez parle 

 pour I'opprime Stranger, pour celui qui n*avait pas le 

 moindre droit a tant de bienveillance, et vos paroles ont 

 ^te accueillies favorablement par des collogues conscien- 

 cieux! Je reconnais bien la des hommes dignes de leur 

 noble mission, les veritable representants de la science 

 d'un pays libre et g^nereux. " 



Within the prescribed limits of this article it would be 

 impossible to give even the slenderest summary of Fara- 

 day's correspondence, or to carve from it more than the 

 merest fragments of his character. His letters, written to 

 Lord Melbourne and others in 1836, regarding his pen- 

 sion, illustrate his uncompromising independence. The 

 Prime Minister had offended him, but assuredly the apol- 

 ogy demanded and given was complete. I think it cer- 



