“In January, 1815, my father gave a lecture on electricity to the Birmingham Philosophical Society, of which he was a Fellow, I performing the experiments. At that period the means of securing electrical action were either imperfect, or, at best, not very generally known. A previous attempt (by another Fellow of the Society) to give an illustrated lecture on the subject had utterly failed; and it was confidently believed by various members that, in the theatre of the institution at least—whether because of the crowded audiences usually attending the lectures, whether from insufficient ventilation, or from some unknown cause—all further attempt was useless. This stimulated my father to the effort, the more so as his successful lectures, previously mentioned, had been given under circumstances far more unfavourable. His credit was thus staked upon the issue, and he resolved, and I with him, that no effort should be spared to secure success. We carefully examined the whole of the Society’s apparatus, and brought it into complete order. Remembering an exhibition of constellations at one of my father’s former lectures, I went to work to prepare more, which I desired to make on a much larger scale; but glass, the material on which the tinfoil was laid, being not only inconveniently fragile, but at that time, on account of the high duty, an expensive article, I tried the substitution of cardboard, which fortunately I found to be, when quite dry, a satisfactory non-conductor. Using this, I produced several constellations of such size as to be well seen by a large body of spectators; and, which delighted me even more, I so arranged one, viz, that of the Great Bear, that while receiving the spark it was kept in constant revolution. At length we got everything to do well; but our elation at this preliminary success was considerably checked by hearing that our predecessor had thus far done as well as ourselves. This made us very anxious, and our care was redoubled. Observing that the lecture-table was covered with lead, surmounted with green baize, and fearing that this combination would in some measure rob our conductor (the nap acting as so many points), we covered the whole with glazed brown paper; and again, anxious lest any accumulation of electric influence, either in the subjacent lead or elsewhere, might be troublesome, we crossed the table with a number of wires, which, being first brought into connection below, were passed through the floor, and lastly, being thrust into the spout of a pump in the basement, were brought into contact with the column of water within, so as to make our conduction, or rather abduction, complete. We also took advantage of a furnace, which had been set up behind the lecture-table for chemical purposes, to diffuse as much