When near the close of his life, he presented to the Royal Institution
the bookcase with the volumes of notes of Davy’s lectures and of books
bound by himself, the inscription recorded that they were the gift of
“Michael _and_ Sarah Faraday.”
Every Saturday evening he used to take his wife to her father’s
house at Paternoster Row, so that on Sunday they should be nearer to
the chapel at Paul’s Alley. And in after years, when he was away on
scientific work, visiting lighthouses, or attending meetings of the
British Association, he always tried to return for the Sunday.
A letter from Liebig in 1844 (see p. 225) gives one of the very few
glimpses of contemporary date of the impression made by Mrs. Faraday
upon others.
One month after his marriage Faraday made his profession of faith
before the Sandemanian church, to which his wife already belonged, and
was admitted a member. To his religious views, and his relations to the
body he thus formally joined, reference will be found later.
[Sidenote: FIRST ELECTRICAL DISCOVERY.]
Faraday now settled down to a routine life of scientific work. His
professional reputation was rising, and his services as analyst
were being sought after. But in the midst of this he was pursuing
investigations on his own account. In the late summer of this year
he made the discovery of the electro-magnetic rotations described in
Chapter III.--his first important piece of original research--and
had in consequence a serious misunderstanding with Dr. Wollaston. On
September 3rd, working with George Barnard in the laboratory, he saw
the electric wire for the first time revolve around the pole of the
magnet. Rubbing his hands as he danced around the table with beaming
face, he exclaimed: “There they go! there they go! we have succeeded
at last.” Then he gleefully proposed that they should wind up the day
by going to one of the theatres. Which should it be? “Oh, to Astley’s,
to see the horses.” And to Astley’s they went. On Christmas Day he
called his young wife to see something new: an electric conducting-wire
revolving under the influence of the magnetism of the earth alone.
He also read two chemical papers at the Royal Society, announcing new
discoveries; one of them in conjunction with his friend Phillips. In
July, 1822, he took his wife and her mother to Ramsgate, whilst he went
off with Phillips to Swansea to try a new process in Vivian’s copper
works. During this enforced parting, Faraday wrote his wife three
letters from which the following are extracts:---
[Sidenote: “A MERE LOVE-LETTER.”]
(July 21, 1822).
I perceive that if I give way to my thoughts, I shall write you
a mere love-letter, just as usual, with not a particle of news
in it: to prevent which I will constrain myself to a narrative
of what has happened since I left you up to the present time,
and then indulge my affection.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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