XIU 



written out, it probably was one of the essays contained in the class-book 

 of the Society. 



Towards the end of the year Faraday wrote his first letter to M. Gr. Dela 

 Rive, the father of the present M. Auguste Be la Rive. He says : — 



" Dear Sir, — Your kindness, when here, in requesting me to accept the 

 honour of a communication with you on the topics which occur in the 

 general progress of science, was such as almost to induce me to overstep 

 the modesty due to my humble situation in the philosophical world, and 

 to accept of the offer you made me. But I do not think I should have 

 been emboldened thus to address you had not Mr. Newman since then 

 informed me that you again expressed a wish to him that I should do so ; 

 and fearful that you should misconceive my silence I put pen to paper, 

 willing rather to run the risk of being thought too bold than of incurring 

 the charge of neglect towards one who had been so kind to me in his ex- 

 pressions. My slight attempts to add to the general stock of chemical 

 knowledge have been received with favourable expressions by those around 

 me ; but I have, on reflection, perceived that this arose from kindness on 

 their parts, and the wish to incite me on to better things. I have always, 

 therefore, been fearful of advancing on what has been said, lest I should 

 assume more than was intended; and I hope that a feeling of this kind will 

 explain to you the length of time which has elapsed between the time 

 when you requested me to write and the present moment when I obey you. 



" I am not entitled, by any peculiar means of obtaining a knowledge of 

 what is doing at the moment in science, to deserve your attention, and I have 

 no claims in myself to it. I judge it probable that the news of the philoso- 

 phical world will reach you much sooner through other more authentic and 

 more dignified sources, and my only excuse even for this letter is obedience 

 to your wishes, and not on account of anything interesting for its novelty." 

 He then describes a new process for the preparation of gas for illumina- 

 tion. He ends, " I am afraid that, with all my reasons, I have not been 

 able to justify this letter. If my fears are true I regret at least ; it was 

 your kindness that drew it from me, and to your kindness I must look for 

 an excuse." 



JEt. 27 (1819). 



In 1819 he had no paper in the Quarterly Journal. He gave one lec- 

 ture at the City Philosophical Society on the Forms of Matter. Matter 

 he classifies into four states, which depend on differences in the essential 

 properties, and cautiously says, " thus a partial reconciliation is esta- 

 blished to the belief that all the variety of this fair globe may be con- 

 verted into three kinds of radiant matter." 



His common-place book contains scarcely any scientific notices. 



On July the 10th he started by coach for a three weeks' walking tour in 

 Wales, with his friend Magrath. He kept a journal, and his descriptions 

 of the scenery, of the copper works of Swansea, the mines of Anglesea, 

 and the slate-quarries of Bangor, are still of interest. 



