Faraday as a Discoverer | Page 6

or thirteen years ago Mr. Faraday and myself quitted the
Institution one evening together, to pay a visit to our friend Grove in
Baker Street. He took my arm at the door, and, pressing it to his side in
his warm genial way, said, 'Come, Tyndall, I will now show you
something that will interest you.' We walked northwards, passed the
house of Mr. Babbage, which drew forth a reference to the famous
evening parties once assembled there. We reached Blandford Street,
and after a little looking about he paused before a stationer's shop, and

then went in. On entering the shop, his usual animation seemed
doubled; he looked rapidly at everything it contained. To the left on
entering was a door, through which he looked down into a little room,
with a window in front facing Blandford Street. Drawing me towards
him, he said eagerly, 'Look there, Tyndall, that was my working-place.
I bound books in that little nook.' A respectable-looking woman stood
behind the counter: his conversation with me was too low to be heard
by her, and he now turned to the counter to buy some cards as an
excuse for our being there. He asked the woman her name--her
predecessor's name-- his predecessor's name. 'That won't do,' he said,
with good-humoured impatience; 'who was his predecessor?' 'Mr.
Riebau,' she replied, and immediately added, as if suddenly recollecting
herself, 'He, sir, was the master of Sir Charles Faraday.' 'Nonsense!' he
responded, 'there is no such person.' Great was her delight when I told
her the name of her visitor; but she assured me that as soon as she saw
him running about the shop, she felt-though she did not know why--that
it must be 'Sir Charles Faraday.'
Faraday did, as you know, accompany Davy to Rome: he was
re-engaged by the managers of the Royal Institution on May 15, 1815.
Here he made rapid progress in chemistry, and after a time was
entrusted with easy analyses by Davy. In those days the Royal
Institution published 'The Quarterly Journal of Science,' the precursor
of our own 'Proceedings.' Faraday's first contribution to science
appeared in that journal in 1816. It was an analysis of some caustic
lime from Tuscany, which had been sent to Davy by the Duchess of
Montrose. Between this period and 1818 various notes and short papers
were published by Faraday. In 1818 he experimented upon 'Sounding
Flames.' Professor Auguste De la Rive had investigated those sounding
flames, and had applied to them an explanation which completely
accounted for a class of sounds discovered by himself, but did not
account for those known to his predecessors. By a few simple and
conclusive experiments, Faraday proved the explanation insufficient. It
is an epoch in the life of a young man when he finds himself correcting
a person of eminence, and in Faraday's case, where its effect was to
develop a modest self-trust, such an event could not fail to act
profitably.
From time to time between 1818 and 1820 Faraday published scientific

notes and notices of minor weight. At this time he was acquiring, not
producing; working hard for his master and storing and strengthening
his own mind. He assisted Mr. Brande in his lectures, and so quietly,
skilfully, and modestly was his work done, that Mr. Brande's vocation
at the time was pronounced 'lecturing on velvet.' In 1820 Faraday
published a chemical paper 'on two new compounds of chlorine and
carbon, and on a new compound of iodine, carbon, and hydrogen.' This
paper was read before the Royal Society on December 21, 1820, and it
was the first of his that was honoured with a place in the 'Philosophical
Transactions.'
On June 12, 1821, he married, and obtained leave to bring his young
wife into his rooms at the Royal Institution. There for forty-six years
they lived together, occupying the suite of apartments which had been
previously in the successive occupancy of Young, Davy, and Brande.
At the time of her marriage Mrs. Faraday was twenty-one years of age,
he being nearly thirty. Regarding this marriage I will at present limit
myself to quoting an entry written in Faraday's own hand in his book of
diplomas, which caught my eye while in his company some years ago.
It ran thus:--
'25th January, 1847. 'Amongst these records and events, I here insert
the date of one which, as a source of honour and happiness, far exceeds
all the rest. We were married on June 12, 1821.
'M. Faraday.'
Then follows the copy of the minutes, dated May 21, 1821, which gave
him additional rooms, and thus enabled him to bring his wife to the
Royal Institution. A feature of Faraday's character which I have often
noticed makes itself apparent in this entry. In his relations to his wife
he