Faraday to Frederick Oldfield Ward   16 June 18341

Royal Institution | 16th June, 1834.

Sir,

I have no hesitation in advising you to experiment in support of your views, because, whether you confirm or confute them, good must come from your exertions.

With regard to the views themselves, I can say nothing about them, except that they are useful in exciting the mind to inquiry. A very brief consideration of the progress of experimental philosophy will show you that it is a great disturber of pre-formed theories.

I have thought long and closely about the theories of attraction and of particles and atoms of matter, and the more I think (in association with experi‑ment) the less distinct does my idea of an atom or particle of matter become2.

I am, Sir, | Your very obedient servant, | M. Faraday.

1
Frederick Oldfield Ward. Scientific student at King's College London. Hofmann (1875), 1138.
2
See Faraday (1834b), ERE7, 869: "though it is very easy to talk of atoms, it is very difficult to form a clear idea of their nature".

Bibliography

FARADAY, Michael (1834b): “Experimental Researches in Electricity. - Seventh Series. On Electro-chemical Decomposition,continued. On the absolute quantity of Electricity associated with the particles or atoms of Matter”, Phil. Trans., 124: 77-122.

HOFMANN, August Wilhelm (1875): “The Faraday Lecture. The Life-work of Liebig in Experimental and Philosophic Chemistry; with Allusions to his Influence on the Development of the Collateral Sciences, and of the Useful Arts”, J. Chem. Soc., 28: 1065-140.

Please cite as “Faraday0727,” in Ɛpsilon: The Michael Faraday Collection accessed on 29 April 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/faraday/letters/Faraday0727