The Express.
London, England, 1867-08-28 00:00:00

Zhe eVpreoo.

TO CORLESPONDIDITIL
,dvortthemeeta Intended for The Itxprean" London nvenhan
Paw. mast be at the Mee, 10, Bonverte-street, by Two
o'clock on the do► of pablicatkin.

111ATMAZIEST.
Tins PUNTS°,gers AN II MATCH. Mews Ruckstone,
Chippendale. Ro, Weatherby ; Mes-
dames Sedgerirk, ?Saw'them, Clark
TO PARIS AND, BACK FOR
LA Mr. Buckstoge.—And NITER SMIRK.

ssininnA.
Teri Emma, 'by desire: the First, Third, and Firth Acts of
HAMLET—The brothers Hanlon; the Champion Skaters.
Mr. J. Plumpton ; Mr. and Mrs. C01111:1110 and Ir. W. Brown.
—And RIP VAN WINKLE. Kr. Howe.

HIGH WATER AT LONDON 11111DOIL
TRW DAT —MomMIL OL Wa..—..Aftwooos. lh. Om.
TO-NoADow—NceMag. 11 Igoa.....—Aitanoon,

LONDON, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 28.

THE regret with which the scientific world will
hear of the death of Dr. MICHAEL FARADAY a:11
be shared by all sections of the public. Althou-'h
it had been known for some time past that there
was no prospect that we should ever listen again
to his simple but profoend expositions of his
favourite science, his decease will none the less
be felt to be a public loss. He was one of the few
connecting links between the past and pre-
sent generations of scientific men. Dorn in Lord
DERRY'S " pre-scientific age," he was contemporary
with most of the men who popularized science
both by teaching it to the general public and by
applying it to the uses of civilization. In his own
person he represented rather the philosophical thrn
the utilitarian aspects of science, its love of know-
ledge rather than its search for practical utility.
A patient investigator, who pursued science for its
own sake, and looked upon the investigation of
Nature's secrets as an almost sacred office or duty,
he was one of the best examples of the truly
scientific man. The true spirit of science possessed
him. The knowledge to which long years of
patient study led him was, in his estimation, its
own complete reward. The vast generalizations
to which his inquiries led the way, and which the
present age will probably see taking their place
among the fundamental truths of our knowledge,
had for him the charm which the greatest minds
have always felt in that which was their chosen
pursuit. Had there been no public to appreciate
his lucid exposition of the deep things of scientific
investigation, ho would have pursued his inquiries
with none the less devotedness, and with
equal success. It was the simple love of
science which sustained him in his studies, and
which induced him to appear before the public to
awaken in them a like appreciation of it. It is
difficult to say what we do not owe of the public
readiness to receive the most startling scientific
truths to the reverent and profoundly sympathetic
manner in which ho taught them. The union in
him of the deepest religiousness with the corn-
pletest surrender to the scientific spirit, the entire
absence of dogmatism, of self-assertion, and espe-
cially of that intellectual scorn which superior men
so often feel for those who are less able, less en-
lightened, or less instructed than they are them-
selves, made him singularly able to mediate be-
tween the new ideas of philosophers and the old
notions of the multitude. He had the confidence
of the public as a philosopher, and he did not lose
it as a man. Now that he is gone his fame will,
of course, rest entirely on his discoveries. His
high appreciation by his contemporaries may have
been, in some degree, the result of that personal
confidence which his clear and brilliant expositions
produced—but his appreciation by those who will
come after us will not be eery different from that
of his contemporaries. In the history of his own
science he will always occupy a high place ; and in
the history of that wider generalization which, by
establishing the unity of force, may not only corre-
late the sciences but unite them into one, he will
always be put in a place of honour.
It is when a man of quiet and nnostentatious
merit passes away that we begin to remember how
much the world owes to such. The programs of
civilization is, in many important respects, the pro-
gress of science. It is the victory of man over Na-
ture, and it is science which points the way to that
victory. But every great conquest which has been
made has been prepared for by the quiet, patient
investigation of men who loved science for its
own sake, and has at length been achieved by the
same patient toil. Mr. RUSKIN has most success-
fully
shown that all the triumphs of the truest
art have been won by men who loved it for its
own sake ; that it is out of his deep love for his I
work that the workman's perfection has come.
This principle applies quite as much to science as
to art. The great discoverer is not the man who
loves the fame of discovery, but is always ho who,
though he may not love fame less, loves know-
ledge more. Much is given him in his callini
because he loves it much. Nor is it difficult to
see why this principle must be always applicable.
The pursuit of icier ce is only another form of the
pursuit of truth. A great discoverer is in this
way a great teacher and revealer of knowledge.
He seeks in his retirement for knowledge of nature,
and when it is found gives it to the world. But
if he were merely hunting for discoveries as a gold-
digeer hunts for nuggets, with an eye to the en-
richment of himself either in fame or money, no
true addition to the sum of our knowledge and no
incm.se of the real practical value of science could
possibly be made. Such scientific investigation is
generally that of the charlatan, not of the truly
scientific man. Indeed it very often happens that
the practical application of scientific truth is made
rather by the tradesman than by the man of science.
The spirit of the one is to turn discovery
and new knowledge to his own personal profit,
and shut it up as much as possible from the
world ; the spirit of the other is to give it all pos-
sible publicity, and make all the world rejoice in a
new addition to its knowledge of Nature and its