same forces acting under different condi- | spirit had to sustain a struggle so severe tions; one matter, one force, one law, in that the labour of wrenching these secrets infinite variety of development. When from nature at last wore out a constitution Faraday first enlisted under Davy, in the of great original strength. The history of Royal Institution, he found him engaged in this struggle is long and interesting, and is effacing from received chemistry many of given by Professor Tyndall in his interesting those varieties of matter which were then memoir. deemed different substances. The earths The first inquiry as to the nature of those he had reduced to metals, and the metals to forces which keep the particles of matter at earths. Liquids he changed into solids, a distance from one another led Faraday solids into liquids, liquids into gases, and into researches on the nature of heat; and gases into both liquids and solids. Thus a it is scarcely necessary to say that on the great region was reduced to law and order, threshold of this investigation heat as a suband established as a domain of chemical stance disappears. Gravity is not a subphysics. Liquids, gases, and solids no stance, tying together the planets of a syslonger existed as separate substances; they tem as did the crystal spheres of the anwere solids in the liquid state, liquids in cients. Centrifugal force is not a substance, the solid state, gases condensed into though it keeps the planets from falling into liquids, and liquids frozen or squeezed the sun, and the moon from falling on to into solids. On this field Faraday entered the earth; nevertheless the centrifugal force heartily, and an account of his investiga- of the solar system is as strong and real as tions was sent as early as 1823 to the Royal Society, and were continued up to the date of his second account in 1844. Although there remain to this day uusubdued liquids, solids, and gases, resisting the efforts made to change them into the other conditions, they are regarded as refractory exceptions, one day to be conquered; and the faith of philosophers is, that every liquid has its gas, every solid its liquid, and every gas its solid form. The same atoms spread out into an expanded sphere in the one case, are condensed in the other within a range which permits free motion at a fixed distance; and in the third are pressed into a closer range, where free motion is hindered by molecular forces that give fixed form.

the centripetal force of gravity, else the solar system and all its worlds would collapse. Just in the same way, between the minute atoms of a portion of gas, of liquid, or of solid, there act forces which keep the atoms apart, which draw them close, which keep them in place; and these forces fix the bulk of the form, and sway the masses of the matter with perfect freedom from contact, but with the same vigour of power which gives to the solar system permanence and shape. Heat, then, is not matter, said Faraday; it is physical force, it is mechanical power, it is motion; he might have said, it is the living soul of dead matter. Heat sustains the particles at a distance; and what we call the elasticity of matter is only The next range of inquiry upon which the force or heat tending to keep them in Faraday entered in this province of chemi- their place, or restore them to it when a cal physics was into the nature of those in- greater force from the outside has made ternal forces which regulate the distance a change. To heat a substance is merely of particles from one another, and give fix- to give greater motion to its particles; to ity to the attitude of each atom to its neigh-cool it is to take motion from them; to give bours, and those forces which determine the them this motion, motion must be taken symmetrical distribution of these atoms, from some other particles; to diminish heat and the conditions of their mutual action. motion must be taken from the particles What is the power which sends the parti- and given to some other particles. Heat, cles of gas away from each other? What then, is but hidden force or hoarded force; is the power which impels them to rush it is capable of rapid transfer out of one back into each other's arms? What law body into another, just as motion is rapidly guides them to fall into rank and file, and transferred out of one billiard-ball into anrange themselves round each other in hol- other. Billiard-balls don't change matter low squares or hollow triangles? Why when they exchange motions; the moved does each assume one attitude to its neigh-ball is charged, the one which hit it is disbour rather than another? and why at certain instants of time will a whole mass of atoms suddenly change front and form line anew? These were the laws and motives of the evolutions of atoms and matter which Faraday determined to discover; but, for the purpose of their discovery, his strong

charged, and brought to rest. The particles of a hot body are charged with motion, the particles of a cold body are charged with less motion; press the two together, and the particles clash like the ivory balls

one takes motion, one parts with it; motions are taken and parted with until atoms

share and share alike. Heat, then, is mo- | fronting one way, the other fronting the op

posite way; he poured into the substance of this compound body a powerful magnetic stream, sufficiently strong to release them from the attractive bond, and enable them to fly asunder; his anticipation was realized all the particles of oxygen flew out at one end, and all the particles of hydrogen chose the opposite way out.

tion held, stored, imparted, given out; and dead matter within is alive with heat. But if heat hold particles at a distance, fix their orbits, and give them definite motion, it does not follow that it fixes the attitude of a particle as well as its place. Faraday proved that each particle has its attitude: just as the moon chooses always to turn one side to the earth, and always In the identification of magnetic influence hides the other from us, so do the atoms of with the electricity of the voltaic pile, and every minute material system maintain fixed with the dry electricity of the common elecattitudes to one another. He studied the tric machine, Faraday played a great part, attitudes of those atoms with careful minute- and the place which electrical influence now ness he at last so mastered them that he holds as a physical agent and faithful sercould make them change at his bidding from vant of the human race arose much out of one attitude into another, and in the end he his discoveries. But his thoughts were found that in every kind of matter, particles turned more to the elucidation of the laws have a preference for one attitude and a re- of nature than to the modes of controlling pugnance for another, and that the seeming these laws for human convenience. difference of one substance from another may be merely the difference of the attitude which the atom assumes in one combination, from that which it assumes in another. Polarity of atoms is a phrase commonly used to indicate this peculiarity of attitude.

He

threw broadcast pregnant seeds of truth into the minds of men ready to cultivate them for human praise. It was enough for him when he fathomed the secrets of nature, and dragged out of the recesses of matter a divine and luminous thought. That men The magnetic needle which points to the should use these hidden forces as instrunorth pole is a beautiful instance of the ments of thought and knowledge, and make preference of a particle for an attitude. an iron wire, 4,000 miles long, the vehicle by Faraday proved that this preference is catch-which a human thought should be propelled ing-he showed that magnetic force is in the form of a magnetic wave through a neither peculiar to one substance nor a spe-space equal to the radius of the earth, in a cialty of the poles of the earth. Every single oscillation lasting only a few seconds atom of matter, like the earth itself, may of time, is one of those marvels of science have its north and its south pole, and may which no daily familiarity can render less tend to incline its head to the north and its seemingly impossible. But it is not the matfeet to the south, or in some other favour-ter of the wire which carries the thought, it ite direction. Magnetic influence is no pe- is the ordering influence of the magnetic culiarity of iron or steel-all matter is mag-power which changes the attitude of the netic-all particles of matter are individual magnets.

Magnetism in science is therefore no longer a thing or a quality, it is a pervading influence, it is an ordinary influence, it marshals particles, - biases them, and changes or fixes their attitude without changing their place. It faces them round to the north or south, to the east or west, and makes them stand on their head or their heels. Magnetism is the orderly force of matter.

particles at one end into conformity with the change of front effected at the other end, just as we can imagine a change of front produced along a line of soldiers successively by a word of command given at one extremity.

We believe it was the flood of light let in on Faraday's mind by these revelations of truth, that gave to the end of his life that afterglow which hallowed his declining years. He had ceased to work and act, and even to But Faraday did more than discover the speak, but he had not ceased to see down universality of the magnetic force; he turned deep into the very heart of things. Farait to use, and made it analyse matter. The day died as he lived, philosopher and Chrishappy thought occurred to him that he could tian, a proof that those who blame philosouse the ordering power of magnetism to phy as hostile to religion know not the deep separate particles of different kinds of mat- principles they censure. How could a man ter which had become united together under be otherwise than religious, who, at every one form. In the form of water, for exam-step he penetrated beyond other men, found ple, he knew that there were two sets of particles, hydrogen and oxygen: he believed that these two ranks of particles were ranged side by side, but in different attitudes, one

himself brought more closely face to face with the manifestations of mind constructed like his own with aim and purpose intelligible to him- employing ways and means

clearly tending to an end, and methodically his genius conferred upon us? I fear it following out a system which he could both must be confessed that we have not. It is conceive and grasp? Such a man's whole not our wont to care for, consider, or secure life is one act of reverence to the Supreme the well-being of those who, in advancing Being in whose inner presence he finds him- the interests of the nation, do not take care self continually illuminated and strength-at the same time to secure their own indiened; and if there be revelation of divine things on earth, it is when the hidden secrets of nature are disclosed to the sincere and self-denying seeker of truth.

vidual wealth. While earning countless wealth for the nation, Faraday's own income seems never, but in one year, to have exceeded the modest bounds of 300l. On

that noble testimony of a nation's gratitude we left him to live and die.

It is impossible to close Professor Tyndall's memoir without putting a question to ourselves as Englishmen. Do we as a na- In concluding this notice, it is necessary tion appreciate and honour, during their to guard against an injustice which, in the lives, those great men who illuminate our desire for shortness, I may seem to have minds, do honour to our race, and place in been betrayed into. In going over the wide our hands the keys of such mysteries in na- field of discovery in which Faraday worked, ture as enable us to wield sources of gi- I did not stop to distinguish between those gantic power and national wealth? Faraday parts of the work which he did alone and was one of a small band who added to our unaided, and those in which distinguished scientific knowledge a whole continent of men co-operated with or preceded him: but truth, who have done for the future peace in justice I must add that he was one of a and wealth of the nation more than con- band of heroes whose names are to be found querors of kingdoms, or heroes of battle- duly recorded in their proper places in Profields. Have we as a nation recognised fessor Tyndall's book, and whom it is probathese benefits, and done ourselves the hon-ble we shall only begin to honour after their our of showing that we were worthy to ap- death.

preciate as well as enjoy the free gifts which

Emperor did not attempt to remove the appre-
hensions under which, as he knows, all France
is suffering. As he by no means wants her to
suffer, it follows of necessity that he deems
peace very insecure.
Spectator, 16 May.

KING THEODORE, it is stated, advised his cap-in the Bank of France seeking occupation, the tains to attack the British by night, but they declined, and descended to their deaths by daylight. Had they obeyed, they would have had a new proof of the power which science can bring to bear in aid of slaughter. Sir Robert Napier had with him an apparatus for employing the magnesium light on a grand scale. At a distance of 600 yards a bewildering blaze of light would have been thrown into the eyes of the Abyssinians, and the British, themselves in impenetrable shadow, would have shot down their lustrous enemies at leisure and at ease. The poor Abyssinians would have been helpless as herrings with the electric ray streaming on the shoal! It is hardly war, such a contest; but it is better that civilization should be armed, than that barbarism should be.

THE Emperor of the French has made his speech at Orleans,-and said nothing. He told the Mayor that the progress of his city "might be developed with confidence in the midst of the general tranquillity of Europe,' -but that was all; and even the Bourse fails to find much in that which is reassuring. The point of the speech, in fact, is its omission. With a loan to raise, and commerce stagnant, and industry depressed, and some forty-eight millions sterling

THE effect of high prices in revealing new sources of supply for any article of prime necessity has this year received a new illustration. We have, according to the Times, imported in one quarter 1,241,382 cwts. of wheat from Egypt, or two-thirds of our import from the United States. Nevertheless, a failure of the harvest in both those countries and Hungary besides would not starve England, or raise prices to any unendurable figure, for at 70s. per quarter India could supply our whole demand without much feeling the loss. It is calculated that there are often 10,000,000 qrs. of fine wheat rotting in the Punjab alone for want of demand, utterly useless except to feed hogs, which the prejudices of the people forbid them to breed. If science ever succeeds in banishing the weevil from wheat ships, and preserving mutton for six months, the English people may yet be fed to the throat on flesh and flour at less than the cost of their present insufficient food.

Spectator.

From The Athenæum.

The Earthly Paradise: a Poem. By William Morris. London, Ellis. Boston, Roberts Brothers.

slain by the hand of his protector - and of the statue that woke to life and love at the prayers of Pygmalion. With these legends of Grecian mythology are interspersed others, which, as already intimated, belong MR. MORRIS is a marvel of imaginative rather to romantic than to classical songfecundity. While the impression left by his stories of royal natures winning their up'Life and Death of Jason' a poem epic ward way in spite of danger and impedialike in its character and dimensions - is ment, as in The Man Born to be King'; yet new, he gives us another poem, or rath- of pride humbled and repentant, as in 'The er a series of poems, extending to nearly Proud King'; of cupidity brought to ruin 20,000 lines. Productiveness of this sort by its own excess, as in The Writing on may in itself seem somewhat suspicious; the Image,' (a weird fable told with startfor very abundant growths are seldom those ling concentration and vividness of detail); of the greatest worth; but in the present the miseries that lurk in the enchantment case it may truly be said that the fertility of unhallowed passion, as in The Lady of exhibited denotes not the inferiority of the the Land'; the punishment that awaits crop, but the richness of the soil. The those who aspire to joys beyond the lot of care, the patience, the wealth of knowledge mortality, as in The Watching of the Falwhich the poems before us reveal, thor- con'; and the immortal rewards with which oughly shut out the notion of haste in their spiritual powers bless their faithful votaries, composition, though these merits may not as in Ogier the Dane.' be appreciated at their true value, simply because the ease and spontaneousness of the poet in a great measure veil the arduousness of his labour. Perhaps, indeed, that should hardly be called labour which has been produced with such evident pleasThe heart of the writer has been in his work, and its charm for himself will be one of its great charms for his readers.

ure.

66

The Earthly Paradise' consists of legends derived from classical and medieval periods, and set in a framework which belongs to the latter period. "Certain gentlemen and mariners of Norway," says the author in his Prologue, "having considered all that they had heard of the Earthly Pardise, set sail to find it, and after many troubles and the lapse of many years, came, old men, to some western land of which they had never before heard." Missing the Happy Isles," the fair Avallon of which poets had fabled, the worn and disappointed wanderers find nevertheless some comfort in the hospitality extended to them by the rulers of this western country. In return for the kindness shown, the wanderers not only give the benefit of their experience in matters of polity to their entertainers, but twice in each month, at solemn feasts, relate to them chronicles either of the old northern world from which they came, or of those fairer lands the mythology of which was the early poetry of Europe. Amongst the tales recited we have those of the fleet-footed Atalanta- of the imprisonment and escape of Danaë, and the exploits of Perseus her son — the loves of Cupid and Psyche—of Admetus, his friendship with the god-shepherd and the devotion of Alcestis-of the doomed Atys,

To give in our columns anything like a systematic analysis of these dozen poems, some of which extend to the length of an ordinary volume, would be manifestly impossible. Our comments upon them must therefore be somewhat general, and it should be distinctly understood that those which are merely alluded to are not less worthy of the reader's attention than others from which we shall select examples. One of the merits of the book indeed is that even and sustained excellence which makes it difficult to give a very decided preference to any of its contents in particular. The same qualities of which we had occasion to speak so highly in The Life and Death of Jason' are displayed here, with the advantage of that fuller exhibition which a variety of themes affords. Of the conscientious labour which Mr. Morris brings to his task, and of the grace which prevents the labour from being obvious, we have already spoken. But these qualities combined seldom result in such a happy fidelity to Nature-in such truly poetic reality as we have now to commend. It may be doubted whether any poet of our day equals Mr. Morris in enabling his readers to see the objects which are presented to him. It is certain, however, that this power has never been displayed on so large a scale by any contemporary. For instance, after accompanying Mr. Morris on the ideal voyage described in his Prologue, we feel as if we had travelled with him-as if we knew where this promontory juts into the sea, where that bay scoops the shore, what woods skirt the coast, what white walls gleam through them, what quays line the strand, what countrymen throng them, the

form of the hills and their position, and at what point we saw

the Autumn moonlight fall Upon the new-built bastions of the wall, Strange with black shadow and grey flood of light.

Of this faculty of description, which combines the sharpness of photography with the atmosphere and colour of Nature, we give a few instances. Our first shall be from the life of towns -a picture of a plague-stricken city:

It was a bright September afternoon, The parched-up beech-trees would be yellowing

The yellow flowers grown deeper with the sun
Were letting fall their petals one by one;
No wind there was, a haze was gathering o'er
The furthest bound of the faint yellow shore;
And in the oily waters of the bay

Scarce moving aught some fisher-cobles lay,
And all seemed peace; and had been peace in-
deed

But that we young men of our life had need,
And to our listening ears a sound was borne
That made the sunlight wretched and forlorn -
-The heavy tolling of the minster bell
And nigher yet a tinkling sound did tell
That through the streets they bore our Saviour