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In October he was sent by Sir James Graham with Mr. Lyell to attend 

 the inquest on those who had died by the explosion in the Haswell colliery. 

 The following account is by Sir Charles : — 



" Faraday undertook the charge with much reluctance, but no sooner 

 had he accepted it than he seemed to be quite at home in his new vocation. 

 He was seated near the coroner, and cross-examined the witnesses with as 

 much talent, skill, and self-possession as if he had been an old practitioner 

 at the bar. We spent eight hours, not without danger, in exploring the 

 galleries where the chief loss of life had been incurred. Among other 

 questions, Faraday asked in what way they measured the rate at which the 

 current of air flowed in the mine. An inspector took a small pinch of gun- 

 powder out of a box, as he might have taken a pinch of snuff, and allowed 

 it to fall gradually through the flame of a candle which he held in the 

 other hand. His companion, with a watch, marked the time the smoke 

 took going a certain distance. Faraday admitted that this plan was suf- 

 ficiently accurate for their purpose ; but, observing the somewhat careless 

 manner in which they handled their powder, he asked where they kept it. 

 They said they kept it in a bag, the neck of which was tied up tight. But 

 where, said he, do you keep the bag ? you are sitting on it was the reply ; for 

 they had given this soft and yielding seat, as the most comfortable 

 one at hand, to the Commissioner. He sprang up on his feet, and, 

 in a most animated and expressive style, expostulated with them for 

 their carelessness, which, as he said, was especially discreditable to those 

 who should be setting an example of vigilance and caution to others 



who were hourly exposed to the danger of explosions Hearing 



that a subscription had been opened for the widows and orphans of the men 

 who had perished by the explosion, I found, on inquiry, that Faraday 

 had already contributed largely. On speaking to him on the subject, he 

 apologized for having done so without mentioning it to me, saying that he 

 did not wish me to feel myself called upon to subscribe because he had 

 done so." 



To a lady of the highest talent, who proposed to become his disciple, to 

 go through with him all his own experiments, he wrote : — "That I should 

 rejoice to aid you in your purpose you cannot doubt, but nature is against 

 you. You have all the confidence of unbaulked health and youth, both in 

 body and mind. I am a labourer of many years' standing, made daily to 

 feel my wearing out. You, with increasing acquisition of knowledge, en- 

 large your views and intentions. I, though I may gain from day to day 

 some little maturity of thought, feel the decay of powers, and am constrained 

 to a continual process of lessening my intentions and contracting my pur- 

 suits. Many a fair discovery stands before me in thought which I once 

 intended, and even now desire, to work out ; but I lose all hope respecting 

 them when I turn my thoughts to that one which is in hand, and see how 

 slowly, for want of time and physical power, it advances, and how likely it 

 is to be not only a barrier between me and the many beyond in intellectual 



