448 FRAGMENTS OF SCIENCE 



house, and apparently three or four times as bright. The 

 horizontal plane in which they chiefly took their way 

 made all above or below it black. The tops of the hills, 

 the churches, and the houses illuminated by it were strik- 

 ing in their effect upon the eye/' Further on in his re- 

 port he expresses himself thus: "In fulfilment of this 

 part of my duty, I beg to state that, in my opinion. Pro- 

 fessor Holmes has practically established the fitness and 

 sufficiency of the magneto-electric light for lighthouse pur- 

 poses, so far as its nature and management are concerned. 

 The light produced is powerful beyond any other that I 

 have yet seen so applied, and in principle may be accu- 

 mulated to any degree; its regularity in the lantern is 

 great; its management easy, and its care there may be 

 confided to attentive keepers of the ordinary degree of 

 intellect and knowledge." Finally, as regards the con- 

 duct of Professor Holmes during these memorable experi- 

 ments, it is only fair to add the following remark with 

 which Faraday closes the report submitted to the Elder 

 Brethren of the Trinity House on the 29th of April, 1859 : 

 *'I must bear my testimony," he says, *'to the perfect 

 openness, candor, and honor of Professor Holmes. He 

 has answered every question, concealed no weak point, 

 explained every applied principle, given every reason for 

 a change either in this or that direction, during several 

 periods of close questioning, in a manner that was very 

 agreeable to me, whose duty it was to search for real faults 

 or possible objections, in respect both of the present time 

 and the future. ' ' * 



Soon afterward the Elder Brethren of the Trinity 



* Holmes's first offer of his machine to the Trinity House bears date February 

 2, 1857. 



