The Sun.
London, England, 1857-12-30 00:00:00

ROYAL INSTITUTION'.

Yesterday afternoon Professor Faraday coin.
menced his usual Christmas course of lectures, ad-
' dresses to a juvenile auditory, at the Royal ilnsti-
tution. His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales
attended, and occupied a chair immediately in
front of the lecture tible. The subject of the pre-
sent course is static electricity, and Professor Fara-
day, who, it is gratifying to observe, displays as
much vigour and animation as in years gone by,
commenced his subject by repeating the declaration
he made several years ago at the meeting of the
British Association at Swansea, that of the nature
of electricity lie knows no'hing, and that the
longer he lives the more convinced he becomes of
his [ignorance of the mrture of that force. Of its
facts and of the laws that govern its operation.he
said he had indeed attained considerable knowledge,
and some of that knowledge he hoped to be
able to impart to his young audience. His object
in the first instance was to show how readily, and
from what a variety of bodies, electric force can be
excited, for which purpose he employed a glass rod,
a stick of shell-lac, and a piece of gutta percha, by
the friction of which light bodies of different kinds
were alike attracted, and the gold leaves of the
electrometer were diverged. He then called upon
his audience to consider the wonderful effect pro-
duced by the friction of those substances, which by
that action were converted from apparently inert
bodies into active powers, which attracted other
bodies and emitted light. Professor Faraday laid
particular stress on the fact, that during the excite-
ment of electricity by friction, the rubber becomes
equally electrical with the substance that is rubbed
and he exemplified it by holding a strip of flannel
by each end, and rubbing backwards and forwards
on the brass stage at the top of the electrometer,
and then placing the flannel on the top of a
second electrometer, when the gold leaves of both
instruments became equally divergent. Having
shown that electricity may be excited by the posi-
tion of varieties of bodies different in their me-
chanical structure, Professor Faraday proceeded to
exemplify that the chemical composition of elec-
tric* may also be essentially different. For this
purpose gutta percha, and gun cotton were selected
as opposite instances. Gutta percha abounds in
carbon, of which abundant proof was given by its
combustion in oxygen gas, when volumes of soot
nompletely blackuuca +het inside cif *he jar
that contained the gas. Gun cotton especially, in
its preparation as collodion, is eminently
electrical, and a film of that substance, after
being merely passed through the fingers, caused
the gold leaves of the electrometer to diverge.
It was then applied to the flame of a spirit lamp,
to show that it is as explosive as gunpowder, and
abounds in nitrogen. Professor Faraday exhibited
and burnt some pieces of gun cotton paper, which
had been sent to him by Professor Schoubein, the
inventor of gun cotton, seven years ago. Several
illustrations were of the excitement of electricity
that is constantly taking place without our notice
by the ordinary actions of life ; such, for instance,
as the combing the hair wnen it is dry, and rub-
bing the feet on the carpet. The latter effect was
shown by touching the top of the electrometer,
whilst the professor rubbed his feet on the mat.
The rubbing of paper with india-rubber also gene-
rates electricity abundantly, and this was illustrated
by placing a sheet of foolscap paper, after having
been rubbed on an insulated stand, near the gas-
burner, and on suddenly removing the paper a
spark was emitted which set fire to the gas: The
accumulation of electricity by electrical machines
was next shown, first by one of the globe machines
used by the earliest electricians, which was excited
by a ribbon held in the hand, and afterwards by the
powerful cylinder and plate machines of the insti-
tution. Professor Faraday impressed on his audi-
ence that these larger effects were exactly the same
in kind, and depended on the same principle as
the excitement of electricity by the rubbing a stick
of sealing-wax on a piece of cloth, and that his
audience might at their own homes, and without any
special apparatus, exemplify the leading facts of
electricity. He constructed for this purpose several
simple pieces of apparatus, one of which was formed
by s icking a rod of sealing wax into a bung to
make a foundation, and balancing a tobacco-pipe
on the top, w hich simple arrangement afforded a de-
cided indication of the presence of an excited elec-
tric, by the turning round of the pipe as the elec-
tric was brought near one end. Another structure
consisted of an inverted wine-glass, on the stand of
which was placed a watch-glass, to form a centre ;
and a piece of flat glass having been laid upon it, 1!
long lath was delicately b danced on the centre
and
an excitea
turned round readily on the approach of
stick of sealing-wax, thus foaming good
electro-
meter. At the conclusion of the lecture the young
prince shook hands with Professor Faraday, who
did not, as on a former occasion, address the leo-
ture to his royal highness.

IRELAND.

DUBLIN, TUESDAY MORNING.
VICEREGAL COURT.

Lord Carlisle purposes returning to Ireland to-
morrow after a long absence in England. His Ex-
cellency will embark at Holyhead for Kingstown
upon the arrival of the day express boat. In a few
more days, therefore, public curiosity will probably
be gratified by the official announcement of the new
legal changes consequent upon the death of Mr.
Justice Jackson.