412 Prof. A. de la Rive's Memoir of 



of his character, the active benevolence which he displayed in 

 his relations with others, gained him general esteem and affec- 

 tion. Always ready to render services, he could quit his labo- 

 ratory when his presence elsewhere was necessary to a friend or 

 useful to humanity. We see him putting his knowledge under 

 contribution both for inquiries upon questions of public health 

 or industrial applications, and to give practical advice to an ar- 

 tisan or examine the discovery of a debutayit in the scientific 

 career. Only, as I have already said, with these exceptions, he 

 made it a rule not to allow himself to be turned aside from the 

 labours to which he had consecrated his life by occupations of 

 another kind, or by those pretended duties of society which waste 

 time, abridge intellectual life (already so short), and very often 

 leave nothing behind them but emptiness and regret. It was 

 not that he could not be eminently sociable when necessary, or 

 that he did not allow himself some relaxations when, fatigued 

 with work, he needed some repose. But these were only acci- 

 dental circumstances in his life, which was so exclusively devoted 

 to his laboratory. 



The scientific career of Faraday was equally fortunate and 

 complete. Named as early as 1823 a correspondent of the 

 Academy of Sciences of Paris, he was called in 1844 by this same 

 Academy to occupy one of its eight foreign Associateships, after 

 having been associated successively with all the learned bodies 

 of Europe and America. He was by no means insensible to 

 these scientific honours, which he accepted with genuine satis- 

 faction, whilst he constantly refused every other kind of hono- 

 rary distinction. 



But it is time to commence the more important part of this 

 notice, that which is to be devoted to the examination of the 

 works of Faraday. Only I may perhaps be allowed, before 

 speaking of the works themselves, to say a few words of the 

 manner in which Faraday worked. 



Is it true that the man of science who wishes to interrogate 

 nature must set himself face to face with his apparatus, make 

 them act to derive facts from them, and wait until these facts 

 have appeared, in order to deduce their consequences, and all 

 without any preconceived idea ? Most certainly the philosopher 

 who could advance such an opinion has never experimented, and 

 in any case this method has never been that of discoverers ; it 

 was assuredly not the one adopted by Faraday. 



There is a second method also which was not his, although it is 

 truly worthy of attention, and often fertile of results. This consists 

 in taking up known phenomena and studying them with great pre- 

 cision, carefully determining all the elements and numerical data, 

 so as to deduce therefrom the laws which govern them, and often 



