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into the world of science. Collected by M. Faraday, 1811. 1809-10.'

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Among the books and subjects which are mentioned in this volume are, Description of a Pyropneumatic Apparatus,' and Experiments on the Ocular Spectra of Light and Colours,' by Dr. Darwin, from Ackerman's Repository; Lightning,' and Electric Fish and Electricity,' from Gentleman's Magazine; 'Meteorolites,' from the Evangelical Magazine; Water Spouts,' from the Zoological Magazine; Formation of Snow,' from Sturm's Reflections; To loosen Glass Stopples,' from the Lady's Magazine; To convert two Liquids into a Solid,' 'Oxygen Gas,' Hydrogen Gas,' 'Nitric and Carbonic Acid Gas,' 'Oxymuriate of Potash,' from Conversations in Chemistry.

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'Galvanism:' Mr. Davy has announced to the Royal Society a great discovery in chemistry-the fixed alkalies have been decomposed by the galvanic battery,' from Chemical Observer; Galvanism and a Description of a Galvanometer,' from the Literary

Panorama.

Through Mr. Tatum, Faraday made the acquaintance of Mr. Huxtable, who was then a medical student, and of Mr. Benjamin Abbott, who was a confidential clerk in the city, and belonged to the Society of Friends. Mr. Huxtable lent him the third edition of Thomson's Chemistry,' and 'Parkes's Chemistry:' this Faraday bound for his friend. The earliest note of Faraday's that is known to exist was written this year to Mr. Huxtable. It shows a little of the fun and much of the gentleness of his writing at this time:

'Dear Sir,-Tit for tat, says the proverb; and it is

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ÆT.19-20.

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

FARADAY (JULY 27, 1857) WITH HIS HEAVY GLASS THAT SHOWED

6 THE ACTION OF MAGNETISM ON LIGHT'

CLAPHAM WOOD HALL, YORKSHIRE, AS IT WAS

CLAPHAM WOOD HALL AS IT NOW IS

Frontispiece

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JACOB'S WELL MEWS, THE EARLY HOME OF FARADAY, AS
NOW IS .

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IT

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THE BOOKBINDER'S SHOP IN BLANDFORD STREET AS IT WAS.

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LIFE OF FARADAY.

CHAPTER I.

EARLY LIFE-ERRAND BOY AND BOOKBINDER'S APPRENTICE.

THE village of Clapham, in Yorkshire, lies at the foot of Ingleborough, close to a station of the Leeds and Lancaster Railway. Here the parish register between 1708 and 1730 shows that Richard ffaraday' recorded the births of ten children. He is described as of Keasden, stonemason and tiler, a 'separatist;' and he died in 1741. No earlier record of Faraday's family can be found.

It seems not unlikely that the birth of an eleventh child, Robert, in 1724, was never registered. Whether this Robert was the son or nephew of Richard cannot be certainly known: however, it is certain that he married Elizabeth Dean, the owner of Clapham Wood Hall.

This Hall was of some beauty, and of a style said to be almost peculiar to the district between Lancaster, Kirkby Lonsdale, and Skipton. The porch had a gableend and ornamented lintel with the initials of the builder (the proprietor); and the windows, with three or four mullions and label or string-course, had a very good effect. It was partly pulled down some twenty

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