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Faraday were working simultaneously almost on the same lines. In 

 a letter to the elder Becquerel, Faraday (1851) speaks in terms of 

 high admiration of Edmond Becquerel's achievements. He was 

 exceedingly struck, he writes, with the beauty of the experiments, 

 with the accuracy of the determinations, and with the results, which 

 confirmed and extended his own. 



Edmond Becquerel was profoundly interested in the laws of 

 electro-chemical decomposition, his views agreeing for the most part 

 closely with those of Faraday. What is now known as "Becquerel's 

 Law " is a special application of the general law of Faraday govern- 

 ing electro-chemical decomposition. 



Among what may be called Becquerel's minor papers are included 

 researches on the thermic radiation of electric sparks, on the produc- 

 tion of phosphorescence by electric sparks, on the determination of 

 high temperatures, on the radiation of solar heat and the production 

 of electric currents, on the electro-chemical decomposition of water, 

 on constant current batteries, on the chemical rays accompanying 

 those of light, on the constitution of the spectrum, on the laws of 

 the evolution of -heat during the passage of electric currents through 

 solids and liquids, on coloured rings produced by the deposition of 

 metallic oxides on metals, on the electric conductivity of solids and 

 liquids, on phosphorescence produced by insolation. Altogether, E. 

 Becquerel produced seventy-one memoirs which are mentioned in the 

 Royal Society's index, in addition to a number written in conjunction 

 with his father, Antoine Cesar, and afterwards with his son, Henri. 



Having thus briefly summarised his scientific work, we may glance 

 at what must be called the outer events of his life. It is to be 

 remarked that though he had early distinguished himself by scientific 

 works of high value, and as the son of an eminent and much re- 

 spected Academician he was not without influence, yet none of the 

 great scientific establishments of his country offered him an appoint- 

 ment. 



In 1849, under the Second French Republic, the Government of 

 the day created a National Agronomic Institute, and adopted the 

 " eminently liberal principle " of appointing the professors by compe- 

 tition. On this occasion, strange to say, the result was favourable. 

 Becquerel, we are told in his official eloge, " submitted himself to this 

 redoubtable test," and, for a wonder, though weighed in a balance so 

 little capable of appreciating his merits, he was fully successful. He 

 thus obtained a chair at this important institution, which had been 

 established at Versailles. Here his lectures were fully appreciated 

 by an audience who followed his teachings with lively interest. 

 His career at the Agronomic Institute was, however, of short dura- 

 tion. In two years political events, which need not concern us, 

 brought on the suppression of the Institute. But as one door was 



