William Garnett

“ But though the recent advances in electrical science have been very great, the grandest triumph of this century is the establishment of the principle of the conservation of energy, which has settled for ever the problem of "the perpetual motion," by showing that it has no solution. This problem was not simply to find a mechanism which should for ever move, but one from which energy might be continuously derived for the performance of external work—in fact, an engine which should require no fuel. ”

“ May not all the phenomena of light be more conveniently solved by supposing universal space filled with a subtile elastic fluid, which, when at rest, is not visible, but whose vibrations affect that fine sense in the eye, as those of air do the grosser organs of the ear? We do not, in the case of sound, imagine that any sonorous particles are thrown off from a bell, for instance, and fly in straight lines to the ear; why must we believe that luminous particles leave the sun and proceed to the eye? ”

“ Spirits, at the same time, are to be fired by a spark sent from side to side through the river, without any other conductor than the water—an experiment which we some time since performed, to the amazement of many. A turkey is to be killed for our dinner by the electrical shock, and roasted by the electrical jack before a fire kindled by the electrified bottle, when the healths of all the famous electricians in England, Holland, France, and Germany, are to be drunk in electrified bumpers, under the discharge of guns from the electrical battery. ”

“ If, for instance, we say that heat is a form of energy, we know at once its relationship to matter and to motion, and are content; we have described the constitution of heat in terms of simpler things, which are more familiar to us, and of which we think we know the nature. But if [312] we ask what matter is, we are unable to define it in terms of anything simpler than itself, and can only trust to daily experience to teach us more and more of its properties; unless, indeed, we accept the theory of the vortex atoms of Thomson and Helmholtz. ”

“ Among those whose contributions to physics have immortalized their names in the annals of science, there is none that holds a more prominent position in the history of the world than Benjamin Franklin. ”

“ From the fact that there could be no electricity in the interior of a hollow conductor, Cavendish deduced, in the best way possible, the truth of the law of inverse squares as applied to electrical attraction and repulsion, and thus laid the foundation of the mathematical theory of electricity. To Cavendish every electrical action was a displacement of an incompressible fluid which filled the whole of space, producing no effect in conductors on account of the freedom of its motion, but producing strains in insulators by displacing the material of the body. ”

“ These are atoms, that is to say, they defy any attempts to sever them, not because they are infinitely hard, but because they have an infinite capacity for wriggling, and thus avoid direct contact with any other atoms that come in their way. Perhaps a theory of electricity consistent with this theory of matter may be developed in the future; but, setting aside these theories, we may possibly say that we know as much about electricity as we know about matter; for while we are conversant with many of the properties of each, we know nothing of the ultimate nature of either. ”

“ Any theory which is brought forward to explain a phenomenon, or any process which is proposed to effect any operation, must in the first instance submit to the test of the application of these two principles of conservation and dissipation of energy; and any proposal which fails to bear these tests may be at once rejected. The essential feature of the science of to-day is its quantitative character. We must, for instance, not only know that radiant energy comes to us from the sun, but we must learn how much energy is annually received by the earth in this way ”

“ It would not be easy to mention two men between whom there was a greater contrast, both in respect of their characters and lives, than that which existed between Benjamin Franklin and the Honourable Henry Cavendish. The former of humble birth, but of great public spirit, possessed social qualities which were on a par with his scientific attainments, and toward the close of his life was more renowned as a statesman than as a philosopher ”

“ The simple contact of dissimilar metals could afford no continuous supply of energy to sustain the current. Applied to the steam-engine, the doctrine of energy teaches us, not only that, corresponding to the combustion of a pound of coal, there is a definite quantity of work which is the mechanical equivalent of the heat generated, and is such that no engine of which we can conceive is capable of deriving from the combustion of the pound of coal a greater amount of work, but it teaches us that there is a further limitation fixed to the amount of work obtainable. ”

“ We here meet with a man altogether beyond the common standard, one in whom natural endowment and sedulous cultivation rivalled each other in the production of a true philosopher; nor do we hesitate to state our belief that, since Newton, Thomas Young stands unrivalled in the annals of British science. ”

“ In his early years, Faraday thought that all kinds of matter might ultimately consist of three materials only, and that as gases and vapours appeared more nearly to resemble one another than the liquids or solids to which they corresponded, so each might be subject to a still higher change in the same direction, and the gas or vapour become radiant matter—either heat, light, or electricity. ”

“ For, in the next place, our experiments seem to teach that the supposed aversation of Nature to a vacuum is but accidental, or in consequence, partly of the weight and fluidity, or, at least, fluxility of the bodies here below; and partly, and perhaps principally, of the air, whose restless endeavour to expand itself every way makes it either rush in itself or compel the interposed bodies into all spaces where it finds no greater resistance than it can surmount. ”

“ When distinguished men of science are placed at the head of an institution like that which Rumford founded, there is always a tendency for the technical teaching of the establishment to become gradually merged into scientific research; and in this case, after Rumford's departure, the genius of Davy gradually converted the Royal Institution into the establishment for scientific research which it has been for more than three quarters of a century. Probably the man who has come nearest to realizing all that Count Rumford had planned for his institution is the late Sir Henry Cole ”

“ Maxwell thus furnished a complete theory of electrical and electro-magnetic action in which all the effects are due to actions propagated in a medium, and direct action at a distance is dispensed with, and exposed his theory successfully to most severe tests. In his great work on electricity and magnetism, he gives the mathematical theory of all the above actions, without, however, committing himself to any particular form of mechanism to represent the constitution of the medium. ”

“ Cavendish's phrase, degree of electrification, corresponds precisely with our notion of electric potential, and is measured by the work done on a unit of electricity by the electric forces in removing it from the point in question to the earth or to infinity. ”

“ Polite company expect to be entertained, not only by the subject of the lecture, but by the manner of the lecturer; they look for respect, for language consonant to their dignity, and ideas on a level with their own. The vulgar—that is to say, in general, those who will take the trouble of thinking, and the bees of business—wish for something that they can comprehend. ”

“ I do not recollect that I have ever passed my time more agreeably, or with a party that I thought more congenial to my own dispositions: and what would hardly be credited by many grave reasoners on life and manners, that a person who had spent the whole of his earlier years a recluse from the gay world, and a total stranger to all that was passing in the higher ranks of society, should feel himself more at home and more at ease in the most magnificent palace in the country than in the humblest dwelling with those whose birth was most similar to his own. ”

“ In what light we are viewed by superior beings may be gathered from a piece of late West India news, which possibly has not yet reached you. A young angel of distinction, being sent down to this world on some business for the first time, had an old courier-spirit assigned him as a guide. ”

“ Energy in any other form is limited in its availability by the conditions under which we can place it. For example, the energy of chemical action in a battery may be used to produce a current, and this to drive a motor by which mechanical work is effected, but some of the energy must inevitably be degraded into the form of heat by the resistance of the battery and of the conductor, and this portion will be greater as the rate of doing work is increased. ”

“ But think how great a portion of mankind consists of weak and ignorant men and women, and of inexperienced, inconsiderate youth of both sexes, who have need of the motives of religion to restrain them from vice, to support their virtue, and retain them in the practice of it till it becomes habitual, which is the great point for its security. ”

“ Young James was essentially a child of nature, and free from all conventionality. He loved every living thing, and took delight in petting young frogs, and putting them into his mouth to see them jump out. ”

“ They had not only a respect, but an affection, for Great Britain—for its laws, its customs and manners, and even a fondness for its fashions, that greatly increased the commerce. Natives of Britain were always treated with particular regard; to be an Old-Englandman was, of itself, a character of some respect, and gave a kind of rank among us. ”

“ It will not easily, then, be intelligibly made out how hatred or aversation, which is a passion of the soul, can either for a vacuum or any other object be supposed to be in water, or such like inanimate body, which cannot be presumed to know when a vacuum would ensue, if they did not bestir themselves to prevent it; nor to be so generous as to act contrary to what is most conducive to their own particular preservation for the public good of the universe. ”

“ The member ever after manifested a readiness to serve Franklin, and they became great friends—"Another instance of the truth of an old maxim I had learned, which says, 'He that has once done you a kindness will be more ready to do you another than he whom you yourself have obliged.' And it shows how much more profitable it is prudently to remove, than to resent, return, and continue inimical proceedings." ”

“ Day devoured daily as much sugar as I do; for he reasonably concluded that so great a system as the sugar-culture in the West Indies, where sixty millions of British property are employed, could never be affected either way by one or one hundred in the nation debarring themselves the reasonable use of it. Reformation must take its rise elsewhere, if ever there is a general mass of public virtue sufficient to resist such private interests. ”

“ If any one should doubt whether the electrical matter passes through the substance of bodies or only over and along their surfaces, a shock from an electrified large glass jar, taken through his own body, will probably convince him. ”