XXI 



At length all difficulties in the way of his long-cherished object were 

 overcome. The various objections to his conductors had been met, the 

 merits of his system were clearly understood, and its adoption in the lioyal 

 Navy was secured. It was then also felt that some further public recogni- 

 tion was due of the benefit thus conferred on the Naval force and mari- 

 time industry of this country and the world. Accordingly, in 184/ the 

 honour of knighthood was conferred upon him, and soon afterwards a 

 grant of ^5000 was made to him by Government, in consideration of his 

 pubhc services. In 1850 he was elected an Honorary Member of the Naval 

 Club at Plymouth, and in 1854 of the Koyal Yacht Club at Cowes, as an 

 especial acknowledgment of his services to the Royal Navy. Nothing 

 could be more congenial to his tastes, for he was always more of a sailor 

 than a landsman. He had a yacht of his own, and was never tired of 

 exercising it ; but he loved to be on the sea in whatever craft. 



In the midst of his multiplied engagemicnts Sir William did not forget 

 the claims of elementary instruction in science. The Manuals of Elec- 

 tricity, Magnetism, and Galvanism published in Weale's '^Rudimentary 

 Series,'^ and which had a large sale, testify to the activity of his mind in 

 this direction. 



Harris's sympathies were with the Bennetts, the Cavendishes, the 

 Singers, the Voltas of a past age; Frictional electricit}?^ was his forte, and 

 the source of his triumphs. He was bewildered and dazzled by the elec- 

 trical development of the present day, and almost shut his eyes to it. He 

 was attached too closely and exclusively to the old school of science to 

 recognize the broad and sweeping advance of the new. He was not con- 

 scious even of being behind his age when he presented to the Royal Society 

 in 1861 an elaborate paper on an improved form of Bennett's discharger, 

 and still less in 1864, when he discussed the laws of electrical distribu- 

 tion, and still relied upon theLeyden jar and the unit-jar. 



Although Sir W. Harris's powers as a scientific inquirer cannot be 

 reckoned as on a par with those of some of his great contemporaries, he 

 was highly ingenious and inventive, a clear thinker, and a suggestive 

 writer. He did his work well, and left his mark on the science of his 

 day; and while some of his labours will be forgotten and others be ab- 

 sorbed and blended with the branch of physical science that he cultivated, 

 still there are many points in Harris's character as a man, and in his 

 habits as a philosopher, which will be dwelt on with pleasure and profit. 



In August 1861, on returning from an excursion in his yacht. Sir Wil- 

 liam was seized wath a painful disease of the eyes (iritis), which did not 

 yield to medical treatment during some months. He was confined to the 

 house until the following May. In the autumn of 1862, in consequence 

 of a return of the malady, he underwent two painful operations ; but the 

 result eventually was, that he lost the sight of one eye, and found the 

 vision of the other much impaired, and his general health weakened. 



Recovering, however, in some measure, from this trying illness, he be- 



