XV111 



writes : — ' All at once he exclaimed, ' Do you see, do you see, do you see, 

 George ! ' as the small wire began to revolve. One end I recollect was in 

 the cup of quicksilver, the other attached above to the centre. I shall 

 never forget the enthusiasm expressed in his face, and the sparkling in 

 his eyes ! " 



Mi: 30 (1822). 



In 1822, a paper on the Alloys of Steel by Stodart and Faraday was 

 read to the Royal Society, and printed in the Transactions. In the Quar- 

 terly Journal of Science he had two papers on the Changing of Vegetable 

 Colours as an alkaline property, and on some Bodies possessing it ; and on 

 the Action of Salts on Turmeric Paper. 



The results of the paper on steel were of no practical value, and this, 

 one of his first and most laborious investigations, is strikingly distin- 

 guished from all his other works by ending in nothing. 



This year he began a fresh manuscript volume, which he called " Che- 

 mical Notes, Hints, Suggestions, and Objects of Pursuit." To it he trans- 

 ferred many of the queries out of his common- place book, but he separated 

 his subjects under different heads. He puts as a sort of preface, " I already 

 owe much to these notes, and think such a collection worth the making by 

 every scientific man. I am sure none would think the trouble lost after a 

 year's experience." When a query got answered, he drew a pen through it, 

 and wrote the date of the answer across it. In this book are the first germs, 

 in the fewest possible words, of his future work. 



The last week in July he went with his friend Richard Phillips to Mr. 

 Vivian's, near Swansea, to introduce a new process into the copper-works, 

 and for a trial at Hereford, which was put off. At the end of a fortnight 

 he returned to London. 



His letters to Mrs. Faraday, who went to Ramsgate, are full of affection, 

 and the account of his <c escape from the large mansion and high company " 

 on the Sunday, and other passages, show how strongly religious feeling- 

 was at work in him. 



Mt. 31 (1823). 



Two papers this year were read to the Royal Society, and printed in the 

 Transactions — one on Fluid Chlorine, the other on the Condensation of seve- 

 ral Gases into Liquids ; and he had four papers in the Quarterly Journal of 

 Science — one on Hydrate of Chlorine, one on the Change of Musket-balls 

 in Shrapnell Shells, on the Action of Gunpowder on Lead, on the purple 

 tint of Plate-glass affected by Light. In a letter to Prof. G. De la Rive, 

 March 24, he says: — "I have been at work lately, and obtained results 

 which I hope you will approve of. I have been interrupted twice in the 

 course of experiments by explosions, both in the course of eight days. One 

 burnt my eyes, the other cut them, but I fortunately escaped with slight 

 injury only in both cases, and am now nearly well. During the winter I 

 took the opportunity of examining the hydrate of chlorine, and analyzing 



