G66 FRAGMENTS OF SCIENCE. 



the voltaic battery. Judged by later knowledge, this first 

 machine would be considered cumbrous and defective in 

 the extreme; but judged by the light of antecedent events, 

 it marked a great step forward. 



Faraday was profoundly interested in the growth of his 

 own discoVery. The Elder Brethren of the Trinity House 

 had had the wisdom to make him their "Scientific 

 Adviser; " and it is interesting to notice in his reports 

 regarding the light, the mixture of enthusiasm and caution 

 which characterized him. Enthusiasm was with him a 

 motive power, guided and controlled by a disciplined 

 judgment. He rode it as a charger, holding it in by a 

 strong rein. While dealing with Holmes, he states the 

 case of the light pro and con. He checks the ardor of the 

 inventor, and, as regards cost, rejecting sanguine estimates, 

 he insists over and over again on the necessity of continued 

 experiment for the solution of this important question. 

 His matured opinion was, however, strongly in favor of 

 the light. With reference to an experiment made at the 

 South Foreland on the 20th of April, 1859, he thus ex- 

 presses himself : "The beauty of the light was wonderful. 

 At a mile off, the apparent streams of light issuing from 

 the lantern were twice as long as those from the lower 

 lighthouse, 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 

 report he expresses himself thus: " In fulfillment 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 

 purposes, so far as its nature and management are con- 

 cerned. The light produced is powerful beyond any other 

 that I have yet seen so applied, and in principle may be 

 accumulated 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 conduct 

 of Professor Holmes during these memorable experiments, 

 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 



