viii PEEFACE. 



was full of energy to profit by the excellence he 

 could follow, or to shun the evil he could foresee ; the 

 other had long reached the climax of his success by his 

 youthful popularity as a lecturer and his early renown 

 as a discoverer; and was about to make a rich and an 

 unsuitable marriage ; and before long was to suffer 

 from the restlessness of the failing health that ended in 

 fatal disease. 



Whenever a true comparison between these two nobles 

 of the Institution can be made, it will probably be seen 

 that the genius of Davy has been hid by the perfection 

 of Faraday. 



Incomparably superior as Faraday was in unselfish- 

 ness, exactness, and perseverance, and in many other 

 respects also, yet certainly in originality and in elo- 

 quence he was inferior to Davy, and in love of research 

 he was by no means his superior. 



Davy, from his earliest energy to his latest feeble- 

 ness, loved research ; and, notwithstanding his marriage, 

 his temper, and his early death, he first gained for 

 the Royal Institution that great reputation for original 

 discovery which has been and is the foundation of its 

 success. 



H. B. J. 



EOTAX INSTITUTION, ALBEMARLE STREET, 

 October 27, 1871. 



