the Falls of the Giessbach, on the pleasant
lake of Brientz. And here we have him watching the shoot of the cataract
down its series of precipices. It is shattered into foam at the base of
each, and tossed by its own recoil as water-dust through the air. The
sun is at his back, shining on the drifting spray, and he thus describes
and muses on what he sees:--

'August 12, 1841.--To-day every fall was foaming from the abundance of
water, and the current of wind brought down by it was in some places too
strong to stand against. The sun shone brightly, and the rainbows seen
from various points were very beautiful. One at the bottom of a fine but
furious fall was very pleasant,--there it remained motionless, whilst
the gusts and clouds of spray swept furiously across its place and were
dashed against the rock. It looked like a spirit strong in faith and
steadfast in the midst of the storm of passions sweeping across it, and
though it might fade and revive, still it held on to the rock as in hope
and giving hope. And the very drops, which in the whirlwind of their
fury seemed as if they would carry all away, were made to revive it and
give it greater beauty.'

Footnote to Chapter 9

[1] See note, p. 77.

Chapter 10.

Magnetization of light.

But we must quit the man and go on to the discoverer: we shall return
for a brief space to his company by-and-by. Carry your thoughts back to
his last experiments, and see him endeavouring to prove that induction
is due to the action of contiguous particles. He knew that polarized
light was a most subtle and delicate investigator of molecular
condition. He used it in 1834 in exploring his electrolytes, and he
tried it in 1838 upon his dielectrics. At that time he coated two
opposite faces of a glass cube with tinfoil, connected one coating with
his powerful electric machine and the other with the earth, and examined
by polarized light the condition of the glass when thus subjected to
strong electric influence. He failed to obtain any effect; still he was
persuaded an action existed, and required only suitable means to call it
forth.

After his return from Switzerland he was beset by these thoughts; they
were more inspired than logical: but he resorted to magnets and proved
his inspiration true. His dislike of 'doubtful knowledge' and his
efforts to liberate his mind from the thraldom of hypotheses have been
already referred to. Still this rebel against theory wa