MICHAEL FARADAY was one of the most distinguished modern chemists and natural philosophers; a splendid instance of success obtained by patience, perseverance, and genius, over obstacles of birth, education, and fortune. He was born in 1794, near London, his father being a blacksmith. He was early apprenticed to a book-binder, but even then he devoted his leisure time to science, and amongst other things, made experiments with an electrical machine of his own construction. Chance having procured him, in 1812, admission to the chemical lectures of Sir H. Davy, then in the zenith of his fame, he ventured to send to Davy the notes he had taken, with a modest expression of desire to be employed in some intellectual pursuit. Davy seems at first to have endeavored to discourage him, but finding him thoroughly in earnest, soon engaged him as his assistant at the Royal Institution. He travelled with Davy on the continent as assistant and amanuensis. On their return to London, Davy confided to him the performance of certain experiments, which led to the condensation of gases into liquids by pressure. Here he first showed some of that extraordinary power and fertility which have rendered his name so familiar to every one even slightly acquainted with physics, and which led to his appointment, in 1827, to Sir H. Davy's post of Professor of Chemistry in the Royal Institution.

We have not space to enumerate his many discoveries, or give an account of his published works, which relate to nearly every branch of physics. But the great work of his life is the series of Experimental Researches on Electricity, published in the Philosophical Transactions. He died in August, 1867.

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