This volume opens with an account of the labours of the physicist who made a special study of the phenomena of magnetism, electricity, and co-relative forces; and in the course of it occasion is taken to explain certain elementary principles of these forces. It then proceeds to give, in the life of Professor Wheatstone, an account of some of the methods by which such scientific principles were made serviceable to man; and it concludes with an account of the man who made it the labour of his life to produce a telegraphic apparatus and alphabet which have found universal favour. Technical language has been avoided as far as possible, and yet it is hoped that the descriptions given of electrical laws and mechanism will convey substantially correct impressions, without entering into elaborate details or straining after scientific exactness. While it may thus become a means of imparting to unscientific readers some knowledge of the history of electrical science and engineering, it is hoped that the narrative will be found sufficiently instructive to point a moral to that wider class of readers who take a sympathetic interest in the struggles and achievements of those unobtrusive but beneficent men, “who, departing, leave behind them foot-prints on the sands of time.” FOOTNOTES: [1] _The Creators of the Age of Steel._ LIVES OF THE ELECTRICIANS. PROFESSOR TYNDALL. CHAPTER I. “Precious is the new light of knowledge which our Teacher conquers for us; yet small to the new light of Love which also we derive from him: the most important element of any man’s performance is the Life he has accomplished.”--CARLYLE.