doubt that in his lifetime Michell en- 

 joyed the esteem and respect of the most 

 eminent men of science in his day. 

 His distinction as an investigator was 

 promptly recognised, as we have seen, 

 by his early election into the Royal 

 Society, when Henry Cavendish and 

 other men of note became his friends and 

 correspondents. But it was not until after 

 he left Cambridge that his eminence in 

 natural philosophy was displayed in the 

 successive papers which he communicated 

 to the Philosophical Transactions. 



The consideration of his researches in 

 physical science may be grouped under 

 the heads of (A) Magnetism, (B) Vision, 

 Light, etc., (C) The Density of the Earth. 

 A separate section will be devoted to his 

 investigations in Astronomy. 



A. Magnetism 



In Michell's first published essay in 

 science the little volume on Artificial 

 Magnets two of his prominent charac- 



73 



