Michael Faraday's 'Chemical notes, hints, suggestions, and objects of pursuit' of 1822

172 Pages·1991·19.53 MB·English

by  Faraday, Michael, Faraday, Michael, Faraday, Michael, Tweney, Ryan D., Gooding, David

HISTORY OF TECHNOLOGY SERIES 17
MICHAEL FARADAY’S
‘Chemical Notes,
Hints, Suggestions
and Objects of Pursuit’
of 1822
Edited by
Ryan D. Tweney &
David Gooding
Peter Peregrinus Ltd. in association with the Science Museum, London
IEE HISTORY OF TECHNOLOGY SERIES 17
Series Editor: Dr B. Bowers
MICHAEL FARADAY'S
'Chemical Notes,
Hints, Suggestions
and Objects of Pursuit'
of 1822
Other volumes in this series:
Volume 1 Measuring instruments—tools of knowledge P. H. Sydenham
Volume 2 Early radio wave detectors V. J. Phillips
Volume 3 A history of electric light and power B. Bowers
Volume 4 The history of electric wires and cables R. M. Black
Volume 5 An early history of electricity supply J. D. Poulter
Volume 6 Technical history of the beginnings of radar S. S. Swords
Volume 7 British television—the formative years R. W. Burns
Volume 8 Hertz and the Maxwellians J. G. O'Hara and D. W. Pricha
Volume 9 Vintage telephones of the world P. Povey and R. A. J. Earl
Volume 10 The GEC Research Laboratories 1919-84 R. J. Clayton and
J. Algar
Volume 11 Metres to microwaves E. B. Callick
Volume 12 A history of the world semiconductor industry P. R. Morris
Volume 13 A period of change: electricity in mining A. V. Jones and
R. Tarkenter
Volume 14 A scientist's war—diary of Sir Clifford Paterson R. Clayton and
J. Algar (Editors)
Volume 15 Wireless: the crucial decade, 1924-1934 G. Bussey
Volume 16 'Curiosity Perfectly Satisfyed:' Faraday's Travels in Europe,
1813-1815 ed. B. Bowers and L. Symons
MICHAEL FARADAY'S
'Chemical Notes,
Hints, Suggestions
and Objects of Pursuit'
of 1822
Edited by
Ryan D. Tweney &
David Gooding
Peter Peregrinus Ltd. in association with the Science Museum, London
Published by: Peter Peregrinus Ltd., London, United Kingdom
© 1991: Peter Peregrinus Ltd.
Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of research or private study,
or criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and
Patents Act, 1988, this publication may be reproduced, stored or
transmitted, in any forms or by any means, only with the prior permission
in writing of the publishers, or in the case of reprographic reproduction in
accordance with the terms of licences issued by the Copyright Licensing
Agency. Inquiries concerning reproduction outside those terms should be
sent to the publishers at the undermentioned address:
Peter Peregrinus Ltd.,
Michael Faraday House,
Six Hills Way, Stevenage,
Herts. SG1 2AY, United Kingdom
While the editors and the publishers believe that the information and
guidance given in this work is correct, all parties must rely upon their own
skill and judgment when making use of it. Neither the editors nor the
publishers assume any liability to anyone for any loss or damage caused
by any error or omission in the work, whether such error or omission is
the result of negligence or any other cause. Any and all such liability is
disclaimed.
The right of the editors to be identified as editors of this work has been
asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents
Act 1988.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A CIP catalogue record for this book
is available from the British Library.
ISBN 0 86341 255 6
Printed in England by Short Run Press Ltd., Exeter
Contents
Acknowledgements vi
Introduction vii
Table of Correspondences xvii
Chemical Notes, Hints, Suggestions, and Objects of Pursuit 1-110
Glossary 111
References 143
Index 147
v
Acknowledgements
The editors are grateful to Lenore Symons of the Institution of Electrical Engineers for
her assistance in preparing this book and for years of help in using this notebook and the
other Faraday materials held in the Archives of the IEE. Mrs. Irene McCabe has been
similarly helpful for materials held at the Royal Institution. Dr. Frank James of the Royal
Institution read the entire transcript, and made many helpful suggestions.
Special thanks are due to Meliha Duncan of Bowling Green State University for her
meticulous and competent help in preparing the manuscript.
Finally, thanks are due to the staff of Peter Peregrinus for their help in a difficult
production task, and to Susan Chitwood for assistance with the Index.
vi •
Introduction
The notebook that we are publishing here is a remarkable document. Kept by one of the
major scientists of the nineteenth century, at a time when he had made his first important
discoveries and was preparing for those major findings that would propel him into the
very first ranks, it is a window into the thoughts of a scientific genius and, at the same
time, a revealing portrait of the culture and community of a new century in the history of
science.
In 1822, when the notebook was in use, Michael Faraday (1791-1867) was employed to
assist Sir Humphry Davy and W. T. Brande in the Laboratories of the Royal Institution
in London's Albemarle Street. He was also the assistant 'superintendent' or manager of
the 'House'. Some time that year he felt impelled to write this comment on the first page
of his 'Chemical Notes ... ', one of several notebooks he was keeping at the time:
I already owe much to these notes and think such a collection worth the
making by every scientific man. I am sure none would think the trouble lost
after a year's experience.
This is the only time that Faraday explicitly commented on the utility of a notebook on
the title page of the book itself, and the comment presents a fascinating challenge, one that
promises insight not just into Faraday's visible achievements but also into the private
workings of his imagination. His comment suggests that he found this notebook more
useful than his previous notebooks had been. Indeed, as even the casual reader will soon
discover, it is a remarkable notebook.
At first sight it could seem a modest effort, almost a list of topics with the occasional
suggested experiment thrown in. Yet it is no mere shadow of those much larger and more
famous volumes known as Faraday's Diaries, in which he recorded the details of his
laboratory investigations. These have long since been published (Martin, 1932-1936).
They are so rich in content, so extensive in range, and cover such a long span of time, that
they have overshadowed the much smaller notebook that we publish here.
One cannot always judge importance by size, however, and it is our belief that the 1822
notebook, modest though it seems, contains insights for us that are not to be had from the
later diaries. Faraday must have thought so too, as his title page comment indicates. Was
he simply restating an old cliche, that notebooks were useful to all scientists? We think
not, because his comment refers to 'such a collection.' He has singled out something
about this one that makes it particularly useful and that he recommends to others. This
demands that we pay close attention to exactly what sort of notebook this is. It is not a
diary; the organization is topical not chronological. It is more like an 'idea-book,' a place
to keep suggestions and puzzles for later work, rather than a record of things done. It is
the last existing notebook Faraday designed to have a prearranged topical outline; later,
as we show below, he switched to a more diary-like format, eventually incorporating an
interesting 'addressing' scheme rather than outline formats. In the present case, however,
the existence of the outline format suggests that he used the book in a back-and-forth,
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more or less parallel fashion rather than as a serial record. It is a delineation of parallel
enterprises, not sequential ones.
This attempt to articulate parallel research programmes probably reflects Faraday's
new confidence as an independent researcher, resulting from his discovery, in September
1821, that an electric current can be made to rotate continuously about a magnet.
Whereas the other notebooks he kept at this time (particularly the Quarto Volumes I and
II reprinted in the first volume of Martin, 1932) contain notes of experiments done with
and for other people as well as his own, this one contains only plans for his own work and
occasional annotations indicating when a project has been attempted or completed.
We have tried to make Faraday's insights and his plans accessible by transcribing the
entire notebook, together with enough supporting critical apparatus, including a
glossary, to enable a modern reader to appreciate the qualities of imagination and the
historical context of one of the greatest scientists of the nineteenth century. Our
introduction provides a brief biographical sketch and a detailed description of the
notebook itself. We go on to suggest some interpretations of the content of the notebook
and to sketch its importance in the larger scheme of Faraday's almost life-long habit of
keeping extensive notes. Finally, we indicate the principles followed in transcribing the
notebook, and preparing it for publication. The main body of this book is, of course, the
reproduction and transcription, found on pages 2 to 109. At the end, we have provided
the glossary (built along rather unusual lines) and an index, to facilitate the reader's own
understanding and interpretive activity.
1 Michael Faraday, 1791-1867
Faraday was born in September of 1791, the second son of James Faraday and Margaret
Faraday (nee Hastwell). James Faraday, a blacksmith, lived in Newington Butts, then on
the outskirts of London. Michael was raised in circumstances that hardly foretold a life in
science: he had little education until he was 13, when circumstances began to make up for
that. Though mathematics and medicine were taught in England's two universities at this
time, there was no institutionalized technical or scientific instruction, apart from lecture
series offered through newly-formed scientific institutions such as the Royal Institution
(modeled on the Andersonian Institute in Glasgow) and various self-help societies. In
1805 Faraday was apprenticed to George Riebau, a bookbinder. This gave him access to
works such as the Encyclopaedia Britannica and he was able to attend courses of lectures
given by other autodidacts such as Jack Tatum and Sir Humphry Davy. He heard
Tatum's lectures on chemistry soon after he joined the City Philosophical Society, a
group of self-improving young men which met regularly for lectures and discussion, (see
James, 1991, Vol. 1, Cantor, Gooding & James, 1991, and Williams, 1965).
At this time few could expect to make a living from the pursuit of science; those who
did so depended largely on lecturing or instrument-making (Gooding, 1989a). In 1812
Faraday had attended lectures by Davy at the Royal Institution. As is well-known,
presenting a bound transcription of his notes of these lectures to Davy helped to win him
a place as an assistant in Davy's laboratory in 1813 (see Williams, 1965). By then he had
become a journeyman printer but, convinced that he must become a chemical
philosopher, Faraday sought and gained release from this obligation.
vin
Though his position at the Royal Institution was a lowly one, it placed him in a leading,
well resourced, laboratory with Davy and W. T. Brande, two very able and experienced
experimentalists from whom Faraday learnt much. A tour of Europe from 1813 to 1815
as Davy's amanuensis and assistant introduced him to the work of leading continental
scientists. He later transcribed his notes and recollections of this valuable experience into
a journal now kept at the IEE and published, as this book is, by Peter Peregrinus (Bowers
& Symons, 1991). Faraday became 'Assistant and Superintendent' of the laboratory in
1815 (when he was given lodgings within the institution), 'Superintendent' or manager of
the house of the Royal Institution in 1821, and Director of the Laboratory in 1825. Thus
he was responsible for running the Royal Institution, which housed Britain's foremost
working laboratory and whose great lecture theatre was the focal point of metropolitan
science for much of the nineteenth century.(Forgan,1985). Faraday established the
Friday Evening discourses, delivering over a hundred of these between 1825 and 1861, on
topics as diverse as Brunei's Thames Tunnel project, flatworms, colliery disasters and the
wavelike nature of electricity, magnetism and light, as well as the justly famous Chemical
History of a Candle (Faraday, 1861). His many other activities included teaching
chemistry at the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich (from 1829 to 1853) and he was a
senator of the new London University from 1836 to 1863. He lived at the Royal
Institution with his wife Sarah, until he retired to Hampton Court in 1862, where he died
in 1867.
Within three years of joining the Royal Institution Faraday was able to publish his first
scientific paper (Faraday, 1816), based on work done in association with Davy. Though
much of his time was spent on work done with others in the institution's laboratories,
some of the projects - such as Davy's work on the liquefaction of gase s— were far from
routine. Alongside the new techniques he was learning, Faraday began to develop his
own ideas. He began to keep notebooks independently of the records kept in the RPs
general laboratory record. In 1821 he assisted Davy with a major series of experiments on
the exciting new phenomenon of electromagnetism, conducted mainly at the RI but also
at the newly established London Institution (Gooding, 1990, chapter 2). Davy
acknowledged Faraday's assistance, and it is likely that by then Faraday was providing
much of the know-how for these experiments (Davy, 1821). Faraday conducted an
extensive, independent review of experiments on electromagnetism during the summer
of 1821 (Faraday, 1821-22). These culminated in his discovery of the electromagnetic
rotations (Faraday, 1821), a phenomenon that established his reputation as an indepen-
dent experimentalist; it also suggested the possibility of conceptualizing force very
differently than Newton had. During the 1820s he began to eclipse Davy, his teacher and
mentor, though Faraday was still obliged to work on projects arranged by Davy. For
example, he worked extensively on the manufacture of stainless steels and high quality
optical glass, work commissioned by the Royal Society largely at Davy's instigation
(Hadfield, 1931). He continued to devote a great deal of time in the 1820s and the early
1830s to applied or consulting work ('professional business', as he called it). Many of the
entries in his notebooks dealt with this sort of work.
Though his time for independent research was limited, it was very productive. He
produced and identified benzene in 1825 (Faraday, 1825) and in 1831 he made his best
known discovery, the electromagnetic induction of currents (Faraday, 1832; Tweney,
IX