348 FRAGMENTS OF SCIENCE. 



From the Fort of Ham, in 1843, Faraday received a let- 

 ter addressed to him by Prince Louis Napoleon Bonaparte. 

 He read this letter to me many years ago, and the desire, 

 shown in various ways by the French Emperor, to turn 

 modern science to account, has often reminded me of it 

 since.' At the age of thirty-five the prisoner of Ham speaks 

 of " rendering his captivity less sad by studying the great 

 discoveries " which science owes to Faraday ; and he asks 

 a question which reveals his cast of thought at the time : 

 " What is the most simple combination to give to a voltaic 

 battery, in order to produce a spark capable of setting fire 

 to powder under water or under ground ? " Should the 

 necessity arise, the French Emperor will not lack at the 

 outset the best appliances of modern science ; while we, I 

 fear, shall have to learn the magnitude of the resources we 

 are now neglecting amid the pangs of actual war. 1 



One turns with renewed pleasure to Faraday's letters 

 to. his wife, published in the second volume. Here surely 

 the loving essence of the man appears more distinctly than 

 anywhere else. From the house of Dr. Percy, in Birming- 

 ham, he writes thus : 



"Here — even here — the moment I leave the table I 

 wish I were with you ix quiet. Oh, what happiness is 

 ours ! My runs into the world in this way only serve to 

 make me esteem that happiness the more." 



And again ■ 



" We have been to a grand conversazione in the town- 

 hall, and I have now returned to my room to talk with you, 

 as the pleasantest and happiest thing that I can do. Noth- 

 ing rests me so much as communion with you. I feel it 

 even now as I write, and catch myself saying the words 

 aloud as I write them." 



1 The " science " has since been applied with astonishing effect by 

 those who had studied it far more thoroughly than the Emperor of the 

 French. 



