CHARACTER OF THE EXPERIMENTALIST. 225 



exact science , yet I certainly think that Faraday's expe- 

 riments were for the most part purely qualitative, and 

 that his mathematical ideas were of a rudimentary cha- 

 racter. It is true that he could not possibly investigate 

 such a subject as magne-crystallic action without involv- 

 ing himself in geometrical relations of considerable com- 

 plexity. I nevertheless think that he was deficient in 

 purely mathematical deductive power, that power which 

 is so exclusively developed by the modern system of 

 mathematical training at Cambridge. Faraday, for in- 

 stance, was perfectly acquainted with the forms of his 

 celebrated lines of force, but I am not aware that he ever 

 entered into the subject of the algebraic nature of those 

 curves, and I feel sure that he could not have explained 

 their form as depending on the resultant attraction of all 

 the magnetic particles acting according to general mathe- 

 matical laws. There are even occasional indications that 

 he did not understand some of the simpler mathematical 

 doctrines of modern physical science. Although he so 

 clearly foresaw the establishment of the unity of the 

 physical forces, and laboured so hard with his own hands 

 to connect gravity with the other forces, it is very doubt- 

 ful whether he understood the fundamental doctrine of 

 the conservation of energy as applied to gravitation. 

 Thus, while Faraday was probably equal to Newton in 

 experimental skill and deductive power as regards the 

 invention of simple qualitative experiments, he was con- 

 trasted to him in mathematical power. These two in- 

 stances are sufficient to show that minds of widely dif- 

 ferent conformation may meet with suitable regions of 

 research. Nevertheless, there are certain common traits 

 which we may discover in all the highest scientific minds. 



c ' Principles of Science/ vol. i. p. 317, and ' Theory of Political 

 Economy,' pp. 3-14. 



VOL. II. 



