The Sun.
London, England, 1868-01-27 00:00:00

THE LATE DR. FARADAY.

A correspondent of the Times writes as follows :
—ln the autumn of 1867 died Michael Faraday,
a man who by his achievements in science gave
glory to England, the land of his birth, and com-
manded the respect of the world. The story of his
life has at this time a peculiar significance. The
son of a working man and himself brought up as a
bookbinder, Faraday, by the force of intellect alone,
acquired not wealth or titular honours, but fame
which will endure for ever. He might have
secured riches, and have had his name recorded
in the roll of knights; but he refused both—
not from the cynical pride of affected humility
which philosophers have sometimes displayed with
so much ostentation. He was a man of large and
generous sympathies, and was not contemptu-
ously indifferent to the good opinion of his fellow-
men ; but his soul was in his work, and that work
was the exploration of the great physical forces of
the universe. Blessed with marvellous keenness
of penetration, rare sagacity, extraordinary mani-
pulative skill, indomitable energy, he extorted from
Nature some of her sublimest and most recondite
secrets. His researches in chemistry, electricity,
and magnetism fill volumes. He was content to
establish laws, leaving to others the subordinate
work of applying those laws to objects of practical
utility. It is these applications which meet the
public eye, and tell most on the public mind, while
the abstract labours of the great discoverer are
known only to the initiated few. The former
bring substantial gain, but the latter only that
pure and inward satisfaction which is its own re-
ward, and which no money can purchase. Without
the lifelong and disinterested efforts of men like
Faraday the spirit of invention would languish and
the progress of the arts be greatly retarded. Two
of the most directly practical and striking results
which have proceeded from Faraday's discoveries are
the brilliant illumination of lighthouses by means
of the magneto-electric current, and the process of
electro-plating by means of the same current. The
author of this letter was present when Mr. Faraday
and his wife first saw the latter process in opera-
tion, and well remembers what pleasure he mani-
fested at seeing others reap a golden harvest from
his labours. One of the most distinguished living
chemists, a foreigner, traces the discovery of all
the magnificent coal-tar colours now so extensively
employed in dyeing to the discoverer of the sub-
stance termed benzol. " And who," says he, " dis-
covered benzol ?"
"England may well be proud of the answer—Michael
Faraday. This history teaches us another and nobler lesson
still ; for it is apt to be forgotten in a great industrial
country like England, where fortune ever tempts the che-
mist from the hard mountain path of pure scientific re-
search to the smiling slopes of lucrative industrial appli-
cation. That lesson, based on the discovery of benzol,
and pointing to the name of its illustrious discoverer,
Faraday, bids us, if wo would reach the noblest heights
of fame, to seek pure truth, careless of industrial advan-
tages to ourselves, yet sure that, from our labours, practi-
cal good will in due season flow for the benefit of all
mankind."

Faraday was often consulted by the Government,
and was ever ready to give his counsel and assistance
regardless of pecuniary remuneration.
Faraday was of the people of England, and the
people of England will honour his memory. They
owe him much, and they will gladly acknowledge
their obligation. His widow survives, and to the
tender devotion of that excellent lady during more
than 40 years Faraday, if he could speak from his
grave, would be the foremost to ascribe the success
of his life. Faraday died poor, and his widow is a
sacred charge upon the nation. He was in receipt
of a pension of £3OO a-year from the national ex-
chequer, and assuredly if ever a pension should be
continued to the widow of one of England's
greatest men Mrs. Faraday is that widow. What-
ever arrangements may be.proposed by the Trea-
sury in regard to another female relative of Fara-
day, the whole British public would receive with
unqualified satisfaction the announcement that a
pension of not less than £3OO a year has been con-
ferred on his widow. There is not a working man
in the kingdom who would not feel himself honoured
by such a grant. Let there be no higgling over the
value of an annuity to the extent of a thousand
pounds or so more or less, but let the thing be done
nobly, gracefully, and speedily, and n
dissen-
tient voice will be heard. The Government a
hasthe rare opportunity of honouring the memory of
one of the greatest philosophers the world has yet
seen, and, at the same time, of stimulating the
intellectual energy of every working man—even
the humblest and the poorest in the kingdom. Let
them do what ought to be done in this case, and
they will never have cause to regret.

Another correspondent, in reply to the above,
writes as follows :—I read the letter on Faraday,
signed " Y.," with great delight. There was one
point only where differed front " and that

_ .
was his appeal to the generosity of Government.
Would Faraday have approved that—he who asked
and accepted nothing from Government, whether
money or titles ?

Surely, if Faraday's companion and assistant, if
Faraday's widow wants support, there are hundredi
in this country who will be proud to place their
names and contributions to such a memorial to the
memory of one of England's greatest men ? Men
of science are plentiful, from dukes down to many
a working man. And are there not others, too, to
whom Faraday's lectures have opened views, more
surprising, more refreshing and elevating than the
grandest views of the sea shore or the Alps ? No,
no—let the Royal Society start a subscription, and
you will see that no appeal is wanted to Govern-
ment, whose generosity is never without a taint,
and that men of Faraday's character—the very salt
of the earth—are quietly, but not the less really,
appreciated by thousands.

SPORTING INTELLIGENOE—This Day.

VICTORIA CLUB BETTING--THIs DAY.
GRAND NATIONAL STEEPLECHASE.
100 to 6 agst Shakspere (offered—take 20 to 1)
100 to 6 agst Fan (offered)
25 to 1 agst Tusculanum (taken freely)
25 to 1 agst Daisy (taken)
100 to 3 agst The Lamb (taken and offered)
100 to 3 agst Bolen (taken and offered)
CHESTER CUP.
20 to 1 agst Viridis (taken and offered)'
1000 to 30 agst Weather Star (taken and offered)
50 to 1 agst Contempt (taken)
50 to 1 agst Seville (taken)
50 to 1 agst Treasure Trove (taken)
50 to 1 agst Bandmaster (taken)
2000 to 2000 on Bandmaster agst Stradbroke (taken)
TWO THOUSAND.
1100 to 40 agst Losicrucian (taken)
Bto 1 agst Formosa (taken freely)
Bto 1 agst Green Sleeve (offered)
9 to 1 agst Pace (taken)
DERBY.
6to 1 agst LedY Elizabeth (taken)
13 to 2 agst Rosicrucian (taken)
10 to 1 agst Green Sleeve (offerep)
100 to 8 agst Typhoeus (offered)
14 to 1 agst Pace (taken).
40 to 1 agst Banditto (taken)
1000 to 20 agst Sunflower colt (taken and offered)
1000 to 20 agst See Saw (taken and offered)
A large attendance. Business was mostly confined to
the Two Thousand Guineas and the Derby. The above
quotations will show the principal business done.

RES FOR 18Q8.
IARY.

Nottingham Spring
Derby Spring

[tell.

Margato
Epsom. Spring Mooting
Croxton Park
NorthaniptOn

UL.
Catterick Bridge
Lewes Spring
Thirsk
Curragh April
Newmarket Ist Spring

Bath
Croydon Ist Summer
Harpenden
Epsom Summer

Newton -2'
Hampton
Newcastle
Bibury Club
Stockbridge
Alexandra Park

23
23
24
30

Odiham,
Stamford
Radcliff© .....
Huntingdon:
Nottingham July
Southampton
Goodwood

20
21
`2l
23
28