DENIS DUVEEN New York City
MICAAEL FARADAY'S views and feelings regarding honors, particularly those conferred by his own country, and financial rewards were in direct contrast to those of his mentor and predecessor a t the Royal Institution, Humphry Davy. The matter has been dealt with fairly completely by J. H. Gladstone1 in his biography of Faraday, who quotes a letter written to him by Faraday's friend Mr. Blaikley in which, referring to Faraday, the latter says: On one occasion, when making some remark in reference to B movement on behalf of science, I inadvertently spoke of the proper honour due to science. He a t once remarked, "I am not one who considers that science e m he honoured." I at once saw the point. His views of the grandeur of truth, when once apprehended, raised it far beyond any honour that man could 1 GLADSTOTE, J. H., "Michpel Faraday," London, 1873, pp. 109,el seq.
give it; but man might honour himself by respecting and aoknowledging it.
I n support of Faraday's low opinion of honors Gladstone also quotes (lac. cit.) from a letter addressed to Professor Andrews of Belfast (dated 2nd February, 1843) the following passage: As to theparticular point of your letter about which you honour me by asking my advice, I have no advice to give; hut I have a strong feeling in the matter, and will tell yon what I should do. I have always felt that there is something degrading in offering rewards for intellectual exertion, and that societies or academies, or even Kings and Emperors, should mingle in the matter does not remove the degradation, for the feeling which is hurt is a point above their condition, and belongs to the respect which a man owes to himself. With this feeling, I have never since I was a boy aimed at any such prize; or even if, as in your ease they came near me, have allowed them to move me from my course; and I have always contended that such rewards will never move the men who are most worthy of reward. Still, I think rewards and honours good if properly distributed, hut they should be given for what a man has done, and not offered for what he is t,o do, or else talent must be considered as a thing marketable and to be boueht and sold. and then down falls that hirh rone of m n d which i s i h r brsr euchcmn~tL O 3 m s u of power, and r i l l mrjkc him ao more 11.311 31,~.commo!!plnve rewunl. \Uwn H mnn is renxrdcd for his dcrcrts. Ilc honour* rlloie who grant the reward, and they give it not as a moving impulse to him, but to all those who by the reward are led to look to that man for an example.
In further support Gladstone finally quotes a long letter on the subject written by Faraday to Lord Wrottesley who was Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee of the British Association. This letter runs as follows: Royal Institution, March 10, 1854 My Lord, I feel unfit to give a deliberate opinion on the course it might be advisable for the Government to pursue if it were anxious to improve the position of science and its cultivators in our country. My conrse of life, and the circumstances which make it a happy one for me, are not those of perszns who conform to the usages and habits of society. Through the kindness of all, from my Sovereign downwards, I have that which supplies all my need; and in respect of honours, I have, as a scientific man received from foreign countries and Sovereigns, those which belonging to very limited and select classes, surpass in my opinion anything that it is in the power of my own to bestow. I cannot say that I have not valued such distinctions; on the contrary, I esteem them very highly, hut I do not think I have ever worked for or sought after them. Even were such to be now created here, the time is past when these would possess any attraction for me; and yon will see, therefore, how unfit I am, upon the strength of any personal motive or feeling to judge of what might he influential upon the minds of others. Nevertheless, I will make one or two remarks which have often occurred to my mind.
JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL EDUCATION Without tl,id:irrf oi the rffect it might have upon distir,guisld men oi s~.irnrr,or upon the minds of thoir who, stimulttrd to e~crlion,mwht b-.mw d~sringuirhrd,11111 think rhat a Government should for its mun sake honour the men who do honour and service to the country. I refer now to honours only, not to beneficial reward; of such honours I think there are none. Knighthoods and baronetcies are sometimw conferred with such intentions, but I think them utterly unfit far that purpose. Instead of conierring distinction, they confound the man who is one of twenty, or perhaps fifty, with hundreds of others. They depress rather than exalt him, for they tend to lower the especial distinction of mind to the commonplace of society. An intelligent country ought to recognize the scientific men among its people as a class. If honours are conferred upon eminence in any class as that of the law or the army, they should he in this also. The aristocracy of the class should have other distinctions than those of lowly and high-born, rich and poor, yet they should be such as to be worthy of those whom the Sovereign and the country should delight to honour, and, being rendered very desirable and even enviable in the eyes of the aristocraoy by hirth, should he unattainable except to that of science. Thus much I think the Government and the country ought to do, for their own sake and the good of science, more than for the sake of the men who might be thought worthy of such distinction. The latter have attained to their fit place, whether the community at large recognize it or not. But hesides that, and as a matter of reward and encouragement to those who have not yet risen to great distinction, I think the Government should, in the very many cases which come before it having a relation ta scientific knowledge, employ men who pursue science, provided they are dt+lso men of business. This is perhaps now done to some extent, hut to nothing like the degree which is ~racticablewith advantage to all omties. The right means cannot have occurred to a ~Gvernmeniwhich has not yet
learned to approach and distinguish the class a8 a whole. I have the honour to he, my Lord, Your very faithful Servant, M. Faraday
Recently a hitherto unpublished autograph letter (see Plate) has come into my possession which still further illustrates the point and runs asfollows: Royal Institution 8th July 1848 My dear Sir, I am happy to say that in England I am not a Sir and I do not intend (if it depends upon me) to become one. The Prussim knighthood I am in hopes will appear in the list in its due form, for in that I do feel honoured, in the other I should not. Ever truly yours, M. Fttraday
This letter has written on it in another hand: This letter was written in answer to one from Mr. C. R. Weld desiring to know whether there was truth in a statement made by a writer in the Edinburgh Review (No. Jan., 1848) that Faraday was now Si? Michael.
C. R. Weld was Assistant Secretary to the Royale Society and author of an authoritative History of the society. An additional point of interest raised by the discovery of this letter is Faraday's reference to a Pmssian knighthood, as I have been quite unable to 6nd any evidence that Faraday was ever thus honored.
