Michael Faraday, his Life and Works. 4] 3 



also to show the inexactitude of the laws to which they were sup- 

 posed to be subjected. This method requires great previous 

 study, great practical talent in the construction of apparatus, 

 remarkable sagacity in the interpretation of the results furnished 

 by experiment, and, lastly, much perseverance and patience. It 

 is true that it leads with certainty to a result ; and this is its good 

 side ; but the difficult conditions which it imposes are so many 

 obstacles which prevent its being generally followed, except by 

 the highest intellects. 



A third method, very different from the last mentioned, is 

 that which, quitting the beaten track, leads, as if by inspiration, 

 to those great discoveries which open new horizons to science. 

 This method, in order to be fertile, requires one condition — a 

 condition, it is true, which is but rarely met with, — namely 

 genius. Now this condition existed in Faraday. Endowed, as 

 he himself perceived, with much imagination, he dared to advance 

 where many others would have recoiled ; his sagacity, joined to 

 an exquisite scientific tact, by furnishing him with a presenti- 

 ment of the possible, prevented him from wandering into the 

 fantastic. Still always wishing for facts, and accepting theo- 

 ries with difficulty, he was nevertheless more or less directed 

 by preconceived ideas, which, whether true or false, led him into 

 new roads, where most frequently he found what he sought, 

 sometimes indeed what he did not seek, but where he constantly 

 met with some important discovery. 



Such a method, if indeed it can be called one, although barren 

 and even dangerous with mediocre minds, produced great things 

 in Faraday's hands ; thanks, as we have said, to his genius, but 

 thanks also to that love of truth which characterized him, and 

 which preserved him from the temptation so often experienced by 

 every discoverer, of seeing what he wishes to see, and not seeing 

 what he dreads. 



The works which have issued from his brain, so well organized, 

 are numerous and varied; they relate essentially, as we have 

 already stated, to chemistry and electricity. Those on the latter 

 subject are by far the most numerous and important; we shall 

 therefore devote to them the greater part of this notice, after 

 giving a summary exposition of the others. 



I. 



In 1816, Davy received a specimen of native caustic lime from 

 Tuscany. He gave it to Faraday for analysis, and found that 

 the account given was so perfect that he had it printed, and 

 accompanied it with some observations. This success, by giving 

 Faraday confidence in his own strength, encouraged him to 

 attempt other original researches. He published (in 1817 and 



