HEROES OF SCIENCE.
PHYSICISTS.
BY
WILLIAM GARNETT, M.A., D.C.L.,
FORMERLY FELLOW OF ST. JOHN'S COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE; PRINCIPAL OFTHE DURHAM COLLEGE OF SCIENCE, NEWCASTLE-UPON-TYNE;HON. MEMBER OF THE NORTH OF ENGLAND INSTITUTE OF MINING ANDMECHANICAL ENGINEERS.
PUBLISHED UNDER THE DIRECTION OF THE COMMITTEEOF GENERAL LITERATURE AND EDUCATION APPOINTED BY THESOCIETY FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE.
LONDON:
SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE,
NORTHUMBERLAND AVENUE, CHARING CROSS, W.C.;
43, QUEEN VICTORIA STREET, E.C.;
26, ST. GEORGE'S PLACE, HYDE PARK CORNER, S.W.
BRIGHTON: 135, NORTH STREET.
New York: E. & J. B. YOUNG AND CO.
PREFACE.
The following pages claim no originality, and no merits beyond that ofbringing within reach of every boy and girl material which wouldotherwise be available only to those who had extensive libraries attheir command, and much time at their disposal. In the schools andcolleges in which the principles of physical science are well taught,the history of the discoveries whereby those principles have beenestablished has been too much neglected. The series to which thepresent volume belongs is intended, in some measure, to meet thisdeficiency.
A complete history of physical science would, if it could be written,form a library of considerable dimensions. The following pages dealonly with[vi] the biographies of a few distinguished men, who, by birth,were British subjects, and incidental allusions only are made toliving philosophers; but, notwithstanding these narrow restrictions,the foundations of the Royal Society of London, of the AmericanPhilosophical Society, of the great Library of Pennsylvania, and ofthe Royal Institution, are events, some account of which comes withinthe compass of the volume. The gradual development of our knowledge ofelectricity, of the mechanical theory of heat, and of the undulatorytheory of optics, will be found delineated in the biographiesselected, though no continuous history is traced in the case of anyone of these branches of physics.
The sources from which the matter contained in the following pages hasbeen derived have been, in addition to the published works of thesubjects of the several sketches, the following:—
"The Encyclopædia Britannica."
"Memoir of the Honourable Robert Boyle," by Thomas Birch, M.A.,prefixed to the folio edition of his works, which was published inLondon in 1743.
"Life of Benjamin Franklin," from his own writings, by John Bigelow.
Dr. G. Wilson's "Life of Cavendish," which[vii] forms the first volume ofthe publications of the Cavendish Society; and the "ElectricalResearches of the Hon. Henry Cavendish, F.R.S.," edited by the lateProfessor James Clerk Maxwell.
"The Life of Sir Benjamin Thompson, Count Rumford," by George E.Ellis, published by the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, inconnection with the complete edition of his works.
"Memoir of Thomas Young," by the late Dean Peacock.
Dr. Bence Jones's "Life of Faraday;" and Professor Tyndall's "Faradayas a Discoverer."
"Life of James Clerk Maxwell," by