Abstract
In the previous two chapters I have argued that Faraday pursued his science within the context of a theologically informed conception of nature and that he advocated a scientific method that can likewise be related to his religion. However, the characterisation of Faraday developed in these chapters is far from complete. We have, as it were, led him to the door of his basement laboratory at the Royal Institution but not allowed him to enter and to practise his science. As a highly innovative scientist Faraday was not simply articulating his metaphysical beliefs but in the course of his work was developing his own ideas, interacting with the ideas of others and the results which he (and other scientists) obtained in their laboratories. Moreover, as several historians have emphasised, Faraday worked painstakingly and unremittingly at the laboratory bench and any account of him which ignores this aspect is necessarily incomplete.
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Notes
For example, L.P. Williams, Michael Faraday: A biography (London, 1965)
several articles in D. Gooding and F.A.J.L. James, eds, Faraday rediscovered: Essays on the life and work of Michael Faraday, 1791–1867 (Basingstoke and New York, 1985)
J. Agassi, Faraday as a natural philosopher (Chicago, 1971)
W. Berkson, Fields of force: The development of a world view from Faraday to Einstein (New York, 1974)
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T.H. Levere, Affinity and matter. Elements of chemical philosophy 1800–1865 (Oxford, 1971).
H.C. Oersted, ‘Experiments on the effect of a current of electricity on the magnetic needle’, Annals of Philosophy, 16 (1820), 273–6.
See also A.-M. Ampere, ‘Conclusions d’un Mémoire sur l’action mutuelle de deux courans électriques, sur celle qui existe entre un courant électrique et un aimant, et celle de deux aimants l’un sur l’autre’, Journal de Physique, 91 (1820), 76–8.
Faraday, ‘Historical sketch of electro-magnetism’, Annals of Philosophy, 2 (1821), 195–200, 274–90 and 3 (1822), 107–21. Quotation on p.193.
B. Gower: Speculation in physics: The theory and practice of Naturphilosophie. Studies in History and Philosophy of Science. 3, 305–56.
T.H. Levere, Poetry realized in nature: Samuel Taylor Coleridge and early nineteenth century science (Cambridge, 1981).
B. Gower, ‘Speculation in physics: The theory and practice of Naturphilosophie’, Studies in History and Philosophy of Science, 3 (1973), 301–56, esp. p.356; T.H. Levere, Poetry realized in nature: Samuel Taylor Coleridge and early nineteenth century science (Cambridge, 1981).
‘Historical sketch’, op. cit. (n.4), p.107. See also R.C. Stauffer, ‘Speculation and experiment in the background of Oersted’s discovery of electromagnetism’, Isis, 48 (1957), 33–50.
C. Babbage and J.F.W. Herschel, ‘Account of the repetition of M. Arago’s experiments on the magnetism manifested by various substances during the act of rotation’, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, 115 (1825), 467–96. Quotation on p.485.
The Oxford English Dictionary gives the following as the major uses of the term induction: H. Davy, Elements of chemical philosophy (London,.1812), p.132
J.F.W. Herschel, Preliminary discourse to the study of natural philosophy (London, 1830), p.329.
See J.L. Heilbron, Electricity in the 17th and 18th centuries: A study of early modern physics (Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1979).
‘Historical sketch’, op. cit. (n.4), p.108; J.L. Heilbron, ‘The electric field before Faraday’, in G.N. Cantor and M.J.S. Hodge, eds, Conceptions of ether: Studies in the history of ether theories 1740–1900 (Cambridge, 1981), pp.187–214.
Faraday, ‘On the manufacture of glass for optical purposes’ (1829), ERCP, 231–91; ‘Acoustical figures’, op. cit. (n.34).
S. Ross, ‘The search for electromagnetic induction’, Notes and Records of the Royal Society of London, 20 (1965), 184–219.
T. Nickles, ‘Discovery’, in R.C. Olby, G.N. Cantor, J.R.R. Christie and M.J.S. Hodge, eds, Companion to the history of modern science (London and New York, 1990), pp.148–65.
Faraday, A course of six lectures on the various forces of matter and their relations to each other (London and Glasgow, 1860).
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Faraday, ‘On Mossotti’s reference of electrical attraction, the attraction of aggregation, and the attraction of gravitation to one cause’, Philosophical Magazine, 10 (1837), 317–18.
O.F. Mossotti, ‘On the forces which regulate the internal constitution of bodies’, Scientific Memoirs, 1 (1837), 448–69. Quotation on p.451.
D. Gooding, ‘Conceptual and experimental bases of Faraday’s denial of electrostatic action at a distance’, Studies in History and Philosophy of Science, 9 (1978), 117–49.
Faraday, ‘A course of lectures on electricity and magnetism’, London Medical Gazette, 2 (1846), 977–82.
Faraday, ‘Physico-chemical philosophy’, 1846: RI MS, F4J7, f.17.
Faraday, ‘Observations on the magnetic force’, Philosophical Magazine, 5 (1853), 218–27.
Reprinted in I.B. Cohen, ed, Isaac Newton’s papers and letters on natural philosophy (Cambridge, 1958), pp.279–312.
W.J.M. Rankine, ‘On the conservation of energy’, Philosophical Magazine, 17 (1859), 250–3 and 347–8.
D. Gooding, ‘Empiricism in practice: Teleology, economy and observation in Faraday’s physics’, Isis, 73 (1982), 46–67.
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© 1991 Geoffrey N. Cantor
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Cantor, G. (1991). Scientific Investigations. In: Michael Faraday: Sandemanian and Scientist. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-13131-0_9
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