306 FRAGMENTS OF SCIENCE. 



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. 



In October, 1813, he quitted England with Sir Humphry 

 and Lady Davy. During his absence he kept a journal, 

 from which copious and interesting extracts have been 

 made by Dr. Bence Jones. Davy was considerate, prefer- 

 ring at times to be his own servant rather than impose on 

 Faraday duties which he disliked. But Lady Davy was the 

 reverse. She treated him as an underling; he chafed 

 under the treatment, and was often on the point of return- 

 ing home. They halted at Geneva. De la Rive, the 

 elder, had known Davy in 1799, and, by his writings in the 

 " Bibliotheque Britannique," had been the first to make 

 the English chemist's labors known abroad. He welcomed 

 Davy to his country residence in 1814. Both were sports- 

 men, and they often went out shooting together. On these 

 occasions Faraday charged Davy's gun while De la Rive 

 charged his own. Once the G-enevese philosopher found 

 himself by the side of Faraday, and in his frank and genial 

 way entered into conversation with the young man. It 

 was evident that a person possessing such a charm of 

 manner and such high intelligence could be no mere 

 servant. On inquiry De la Rive was somewhat shocked to 

 find that the soidisant domestique was vza\\y preparateur in 

 the laboratory of the Royal Institution; and he immediately 

 proposed that Faraday thenceforth should join the masters 

 instead of the servants at their meals. To this Davy, probably 

 out of weak deference to his wife, objected; but an ar- 

 rangement was come to that Faraday thenceforward should 

 have hisfood in his own room. Rumor states that a dinner 

 in honor of Faraday was given by De la Rive. This is a 

 delusion; there was no such banquet; but Faraday never 

 forgot the kindness of the friend who saw his merit when 

 he was a mere gar $ on de laboratoire* 



* While confined last autumn at Geneva by the effects of a fall in 

 the Alps, my friends, with a kindness I can never forget, did all 

 that friendship could suggest to render my captivity pleasant to 

 me. M. De la Rive then wrote out for me the full account, of 

 which the foregoing is a condensed abstract. It was at the desire of 



