The chemical history of a candle : with a facsimile reproduction of Faraday's manuscript lecture notes from Royal Institution MS F4 J21

323 Pages·2011·5.38 MB·English

by  Michael Faraday

THE CHEMICAL HISTORY OF A CANDLE
Photograph of Michael Faraday by John Watkins, c. April 1861
MICHAEL FARADAY
THE CHEMICAL
HISTORY OF A CANDLE
SESQUICENTENARY EDITION
with a facsimile reproduction of Faraday’s manuscript
lecture notes from Royal Institution MS F4 J21
EDITED AND INTRODUCED BY
FRANK A. J. L. JAMES
Great Clarendon Street, Oxford OX2 6DP
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Cataloguing in Publication Data
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Printed in Great Britain
on acid-free paper by
Clays Ltd, St Ives plc ISBN 978–0–19–969491–4
1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2
In Memoriam
A. Rupert Hall (1920–2009)
Marie Boas Hall (1919–2009)
CONTENTS
Foreword
Acknowledgements
List of Plates
Introduction
Note on the Published Text
The Text
Notes
The Facsimile
Original Page Running Heads
FOREWORD
Anyone fortunate enough, as I was, to spend ten years at the Royal
Institution carrying out laser research and lecturing for the young can
testify that to this day Faraday’s spirit exudes from every pore of the
Institution. In 1980-9, the building had a faded elegance redolent of that
in Faraday’s time. There was much dust in the atmosphere, which made
tuning our lasers very difficult—students grappling with this task were
comforted with the thought that some of the dust may have been
Faraday’s own skin cells! We viewed our efforts with that most modern
of light sources as being in direct descent from Faraday’s own original
light source, the candle. It is wonderful that Faraday’s Chemical History
of a Candle is to be re-issued, not only as an historical document, but
also as a lesson in how to communicate science. I have lectured well
over one hundred times in that historic theatre, and gave four Friday
Evening Discourses, and (jointly) the 1987-8 BBC-TV Christmas Lectures
on ‘Crystals and Lasers’. Every time one entered the theatre to begin a
lecture, one felt a tension best described as having Faraday looking over
one’s shoulder criticizing delivery and content. His collected writings,
published as Advice to Lecturers, still good today, was always available to
Royal Institution lecturers, and provided sobering reading if one’s
prepared lecture did not conform with Faraday’s views on how it should
be done:
An experimental lecturer should attend very carefully to the
choice he may make of experiments for the illustration of his
subject. They should be important . . . clear . . . rather approach
to simplicity, and explain the established principles of the subject,
than be elaborate . . .
A flame should be lighted at the commencement, and kept alive
with unremitting splendour to the end.
Readers of this new edition of Chemical History of a Candle will find a
text that amply demonstrates Faraday’s capabilities to engage and
enthuse an audience; a process as necessary today as it was then. Enjoy
it!
David Phillips
Professor Emeritus, Imperial College London
President, Royal Society of Chemistry
Royal Institution Christmas Lecturer, 1987–8
11 January 2011