1870.] Notices of Scientific Works. 237 



which surpass, in my opinion, anything which it is in the power of 

 my own to bestow." What those honours were we had intended to 

 state, but their astonishing number, some sixty or more — a number 

 we believe quite unparalleled in the annals of science — would have 

 occupied more space than we can spare. 



In conclusion we must repeat our high opinion of the manner 

 in which Dr. Bence Jones has compiled this record of Faraday. 

 It has been a work of labour, but manifestly a labour of love. We 

 wish the public would read this memoir. It would be well for them- 

 selves, and it would be well for the progress of science. No one 

 can rise from the perusal of this work without feeling the better 

 for knowing more of one who, as the following picture will show, 

 embodied both " sweetness and light." 



" As a philosopher, Faraday's first great characteristic was the 

 trust which he put in facts. His second great characteristic was his 

 imagination. It rose sometimes to divination, or scientific second 

 sight, and led him to anticipate results that he or others afterwards 

 proved to be true. 



" As a man, the beauty and the nobleness of his character were 

 formed by very many great qualities. Among these the first and 

 greatest was his truthfulness. His noble nature showed itself in 

 his search for truth. He loved truth beyond all other things ; and 

 no one ever did, or will, search for it with more energy than he did. 

 His second great quality was his kindness. It was born in him, 

 and by his careful culture it grew up to be the rule of his life ; kind- 

 ness to every one always — in thought, in word, and in deed. His 

 third great quality was his energy. This was no strong effort for 

 a short time, but a lifelong lasting strife to seek and say that which 

 he thought was true, and to do that which he thought was kind. 



" That one who had been a newspaper boy should receive, 

 unsought, almost every honour which every republic of science 

 throughout the world could give ; that he should for many years 

 be consulted constantly by the different departments of the Govern- 

 ment, and other authorities, on questions regarding the good of 

 others ; that he should be sought after by the princes of his own 

 and of other countries; and that he should be the admiration of 

 every scientific or unscientific person who knew anything of him, 

 was enough to have made him proud ; but his religion was a living 

 root of fresh humility, and from first to last it may be seen growing 

 with his fame, and reaching its height with his glory, and making 

 him to the end of his life certainly the humblest, whilst he was also 

 the most energetic, the truest, and the kindest of experimental 

 philosophers." 



Such was the man of whom England has not seen his like 

 since the time of Newton. A true Christian gentleman, a great 

 High Priest of Nature was Michael Faraday. 



