Ivi 



my need ; and in respect of honours, I have as a scientific man received 

 from foreign countries and sovereigns those which, belonging to very 

 limited and select classes, surpass in my opinion anything that it is in the 

 power of my own to bestow. 



" I cannot say that I have not valued such distinctions ; on the contrary, 

 I esteem them very highly, but I do not think I have ever worked for or 

 sought them. Even were such to be now created here, the time is passed 

 when these would possess any attraction for me, and you will see therefore 

 how unfit I am, upon the strength of any personal motive or feeling, to 

 judge of what might be influential upon the minds of others. Neverthe- 

 less I will make one or two remarks which have often occurred to my mind. 

 . . . . A Government should, for its own sake, honour the men who 

 do honour and service to the country. The aristocracy of the class should 

 have distinctions which should be unattainable except to that of science. 



. . But, besides, the Government should, in the very many cases 

 which come before it having a relation to scientific knowledge, employ men 

 who pursue science, provided they are also men of business. This is per- 

 haps now done to some extent, but to nothing like the degree which is 

 practicable with advantage to all parties. The right means cannot have 

 occurred to a Government which has not yet learned to approach and dis- 

 tinguish the class as a whole." 



He sent five reports to the Trinity House, one of which, in two parts, was 

 on Dr. Watson's electric light (voltaic), and on Prof. Holmes's electric light 

 (magneto-electric). The conclusion was that he could not recommend the 

 electric light, that it had better be tried for other than lighthouse uses first. 

 To Dr. Watson he wrote that he " could not put up in a lighthouse what 

 has not been perfectly established beforehand, and is only experimental." 



He was made Corresponding Associate of the Royal Academy of Sciences, 

 Naples. 



ML 63 (1855). 



His first Friday discourse was on some Points of Magnetic Philosophy 

 and on Gravity. Later he gave a discourse on Electric Conduction ; and 

 another on HuhmkorfFs Induction-apparatus. 



For the Trinity House he only went to Birmingham to examine some 

 apparatus of Chance's. 



This year, on the application of his friend M. Dumas, he was made Com- 

 mander of the Legion of Honour, and received the Grand Medal of Honour 

 of the French Exhibition for his discoveries. 



He was made Honorary Member of the Imperial Society of Naturalists, 

 Moscow, and Corresponding Associate of the Imperial Institute of Sciences 

 of Lombardy. 



ML 64 (1856). 



This year he sent to the Royal Society his last paper, Experimental Rela- 

 tions of Gold (and other metals) to Light. It was read as the Bakerian 

 lecture early the following year. 



