1、 第第 30 卷卷 科学论文集：物理科学论文集：物理学、化学、天文学、地质学学、化学、天文学、地质学 百年哈佛 50 部经典 英文版 Harvard Classics 第 30 卷 科学论文集：物理学、化学、天文学、地质学 2/346 总目录总目录 第第 1 卷卷 富兰克林自传富兰克林自传 第第 2 卷卷 柏拉图对话录：辩解篇、菲多柏拉图对话录：辩解篇、菲多篇、克利多篇篇、克利多篇 第第 3 卷卷 培根论说文集及新阿特兰蒂斯培根论说文集及新阿特兰蒂斯 第第 4 卷卷 约翰米尔顿英文诗全集约翰米尔顿英文诗全集 第第 5 卷卷 爱默生文集爱默生文集 第第 6 卷卷 伯恩斯诗歌集伯恩斯诗歌集 第第
2、7 卷卷 圣奥古斯丁忏悔录圣奥古斯丁忏悔录 第第 8 卷卷 希腊戏剧希腊戏剧 第第 9 卷卷 论友谊、论老年及书信集论友谊、论老年及书信集 第第 10 卷卷 国富论国富论 第第 11 卷卷 物种起源论物种起源论 第第 12 卷卷 普卢塔克比较列传普卢塔克比较列传 第第 13 卷卷 伊尼亚德伊尼亚德 第第 14 卷卷 唐吉坷德唐吉坷德 百年哈佛 50 部经典 英文版 Harvard Classics 第 30 卷 科学论文集：物理学、化学、天文学、地质学 3/346 第第 15 卷卷 天路历程天路历程 第第 16 卷卷 天方夜谭天方夜谭 第第 17 卷卷 民间传说与预言民间传说与预言 第第 18
3、 卷卷 英国现代戏剧英国现代戏剧 第第 19 卷卷 浮士德浮士德 第第 20 卷卷 神曲神曲 第第 21 卷卷 许婚的爱人许婚的爱人 第第 22 卷卷 奥德赛奥德赛 第第 23 卷卷 两年水手生涯两年水手生涯 第第 24 卷卷 伯克文集伯克文集 第第 25 卷卷 穆勒文集穆勒文集 第第 26 卷卷 欧洲大陆戏剧欧洲大陆戏剧 第第 27 卷卷 英国名家随笔英国名家随笔 第第 28 卷卷 英国与美国名家随笔英国与美国名家随笔 第第 29 卷卷 比格尔号上的旅行比格尔号上的旅行 第第 30 卷卷 科学论文集：物理学、化学、科学论文集：物理学、化学、天文学、地质学天文学、地质学 百年哈佛 50 部经典
4、 英文版 Harvard Classics 第 30 卷 科学论文集：物理学、化学、天文学、地质学 4/346 第第 31 卷卷 切利尼自传切利尼自传 第第 32 卷卷 文学和哲学名家随笔文学和哲学名家随笔 第第33卷卷 古代与现代著名航海与旅行记古代与现代著名航海与旅行记 第第 34 卷卷 法国和英国著名哲学家法国和英国著名哲学家 第第 35 卷卷 见闻与传奇见闻与传奇 第第 36 卷卷 君王论君王论 第第 37 卷卷 17、18 世纪英国著名哲学家世纪英国著名哲学家 第第 38 卷卷 物理学、医学、外科学和地质物理学、医学、外科学和地质学学 第第 39 卷卷 著名之前言和序言著名之前言和序
5、言 第第 40 卷卷 英文诗集（卷）从乔叟到格英文诗集（卷）从乔叟到格雷雷 第第 41 卷卷 英文诗集（卷）从科林斯到英文诗集（卷）从科林斯到费兹杰拉德费兹杰拉德 第第 42 卷卷 英文诗集（卷）从丁尼生到英文诗集（卷）从丁尼生到惠特曼惠特曼 第第 43 卷卷 10001904 第第 44 卷卷 圣书圣书(卷一卷一):孔子孔子 希伯来书希伯来书 基基百年哈佛 50 部经典 英文版 Harvard Classics 第 30 卷 科学论文集：物理学、化学、天文学、地质学 5/346 督圣经督圣经()第第 45 卷卷 圣书圣书(卷二卷二)基督圣经基督圣经()第第 46 卷卷 伊丽莎白时期戏剧（卷）
6、伊丽莎白时期戏剧（卷）第第 47 卷卷 伊丽莎白时期戏剧（卷）伊丽莎白时期戏剧（卷）第第 48 卷卷 帕斯卡文集帕斯卡文集 第第 49 卷卷 史诗与传说史诗与传说 第第 50 卷卷 哈佛经典讲座哈佛经典讲座 百年哈佛 50 部经典 英文版 Harvard Classics 第 30 卷 科学论文集：物理学、化学、天文学、地质学 6/346 第第 30 卷卷 科学论文集：物理学、化学、天科学论文集：物理学、化学、天文学、地质学文学、地质学 THE FORCES OF MATTER INTRODUCTORY NOTE MICHAEL FARADAY was the son of a blacksm
7、ith,and was born at Newington Butts,near London,September 22,1791.He began life as an errand boy to a bookbinder and stationer,to whom he was later bound apprentice.After eight years in this business,he was engaged by Sir Humphry Davy as his laboratory assistant at the Royal Institution,and in 1813-
8、15 he traveled extensively on the Continent with his master,and saw some of the most famous scientists of Europe.Shortly after his return to the Royal Institution,he began to make contributions of his own to science,his first paper appearing in 1816.He became director of the laboratory in 1825,and p
9、rofessor of chemistry in 1833;rising rapidly,through the number and importance of his discoveries,to a most distinguished position.But he was working at too great pressure,and in 1841 his health gave way,so that for some three years he could not work at all.He recovered,however,and made some of his
10、most important discoveries after this interruption;and was offered,but declined,the presidency of both the Royal Society and the Royal Institution.He died August 25,1867.It was characteristic of Faradays devotion to the enlargement of the bounds of human knowledge that on his discovery of magneto-el
11、ectricity he abandoned the commercial work by which he had added to his small salary,in order to reserve all his energies for research.This financial loss was in part made up later by a pension of 300 a year from the British Government.Faradays parents were members of the obscure religious 百年哈佛 50 部
12、经典 英文版 Harvard Classics 第 30 卷 科学论文集：物理学、化学、天文学、地质学 7/346 denomination of the Sandemanians,and Faraday himself,shortly after his marriage,at the age of thirty,joined the same sect,to which he adhered till his death.Religion and science he kept strictly apart,believing that the data of science were o
13、f an entirely different nature from the direct communications between God and the soul on which his religious faith was based.The discoveries made by Faraday were so numerous,and often demand so detailed a knowledge of chemistry and physics before they can be understood,that it is impossible to atte
14、mpt to describe or even enumerate them here.Among the most important are the discovery of magneto-electric induction,of the law of electro-chemical decomposition,of the magnetization of light,and of diamagnetism.Round each of these are grouped numbers of derivative but still highly important additio
15、ns to scientific knowledge,and together they form so vast an achievement as to lead his successor,Tyndall,to say,“Taking him for all and all,I think it will be conceded that Michael Faraday was the greatest experimental philosopher the world has ever seen;and I will add the opinion,that the progress
16、 of future research will tend,not to dim or to diminish,but to enhance and glorify the labours of this mighty investigator.”In spite of the highly technical nature of his work in research,Faraday was remarkably gifted as an expounder of science to popular audiences;and his lectures at the Royal Inst
17、itution,especially those to younger audiences,were justly famous.The following example is a classic in the department of clear and fascinating scientific exposition.THE FORCES OF MATTER BY MICHAEL FARADAY LECTURE I THE FORCE OF GRAVITAION IT grieves me much to think that I may have been a cause of d
18、isturbance to your Christmas arrangements,for nothing is more 百年哈佛 50 部经典 英文版 Harvard Classics 第 30 卷 科学论文集：物理学、化学、天文学、地质学 8/346 satisfactory to my mind than to perform what I undertake;but such things are not always left to our own power,and we must submit to circumstances as they are appointed.I w
19、ill to-day do my best,and will ask you to bear with me if I am unable to give more than a few words;and,as a substitute,I will endeavor to make the illustrations of the sense I try to express as full as possible;and if we find by the end of this lecture that we may be justified in continuing them,th
20、inking that next week our power shall be greater,why then,with submission to you,we will take such course as you may think fit,either to go on or discontinue them;and although I now feel much weakened by the pressure of the illness(a mere cold)upon me,both in facility of expression and clearness of
21、thought,I shall here claim,as I always have done on these occasions,the right of addressing myself to the younger members of the audience;and for this purpose,therefore,unfitted as it may seem for an elderly,infirm man to do so,I will return to second childhood,and become as it were,young again amon
22、g the young.Let us now consider,for a little while,how wonderfully we stand upon this world.Here it is we are born,bred,and live,and yet we view these things with an almost entire absence of wonder to ourselves respecting the way in which all this happens.So small,indeed,is our wonder,that we are ne
23、ver taken by surprise;and I do think that,to a young person of ten,fifteen,or twenty years of age,perhaps the first sight of a cataract or a mountain would occasion him more surprise than he had ever felt concerning the means of his own existence;how he came here;how he lives;by what means he stands
24、 upright;and through what means he moves about from place to place.Hence,we come into this world,we live,and depart from it,without our thoughts being called specifically to consider how all this takes place;and were it not for the exertions of some few inquiring minds,who have looked into these thi
25、ngs,and ascertained the very beautiful laws and conditions by which we do live and stand upon 百年哈佛 50 部经典 英文版 Harvard Classics 第 30 卷 科学论文集：物理学、化学、天文学、地质学 9/346 the earth,we should hardly be aware that there was any thing wonderful in it.These inquiries,which have occupied philosophers from the earl
26、iest days,when they first began to find out the laws by which we grow,and exist,and enjoy ourselves,up to the present time,have shown us that all this was effected in consequence of the existence of certain forces,or abilities to do things,or powers,that are so common that nothing can be more so;for
27、 nothing is commoner than the wonderful powers by which we are enabled to stand upright:they are essential to our existence every moment.It is my purpose to-day to make you acquainted with some of these powers:not the vital ones,but some of the more elementary,and what we call physical powers;and,in
28、 the outset,what can I do to bring to your minds a notion of neither more nor less than that which I mean by the word power or force?Suppose I take this sheet of paper,and place it upright on one edge,resting against a support before me(as the roughest possible illustration of something to be distur
29、bed),and suppose I then pull this piece of string which is attached to it.I pull the paper over.I have therefore brought into use a power of doing sothe power of my hand carried on through this string in a way which is very remarkable when we come to analyze it;and it is by means of these powers con
30、jointly(for there are several powers here employed)that I pull the paper over.Again,if I give it a push upon the other side,I bring into play a power,but a very different exertion of power from the former;or,if I take now this bit of shell-lac a stick of shell-lac about 12 inches long and 1 1-2 in d
31、iameter,and rub it with flannel,and hold it an inch or so in front of the upper part of this upright sheet,the paper is immediately moved towards the shell-lac,and by now drawing the latter away,the paper falls over without having been touched by any thing.You see,in the first illustration I produce
32、d an effect than which nothing could be commoner;I pull it over now,not by means of that string or the pull of my hand,but by some 百年哈佛 50 部经典 英文版 Harvard Classics 第 30 卷 科学论文集：物理学、化学、天文学、地质学 10/346 action in this shell-lac.The shell-lac,therefore,has a power wherewith it acts upon the sheet of pape
33、r;and,as an illustration of the exercise of another kind of power,I might use gunpowder with which to throw it over.Now I want you to endeavor to comprehend that when I am speaking of a power or force,I am speaking of that which I used just now to pull over this piece of paper.I will not embarrass y
34、ou at present with the name of that power,but it is clear there was a something in the shell-lac which acted by attraction,and pulled the paper over;this,then,is one of those things which we call power,or force;and you will now be able to recognize it as such in whatever form I show it to you.We are
35、 not to suppose that there are so very many different powers;on the contrary,it is wonderful to think how few are the powers by which all the phenomena of nature are governed.There is an illustration of another kind of power in that lamp;there is a power of heata power of doing something,but not the
36、 same power as that which pulled the paper over;and so,by degrees,we find that there are certain other powers(not many)in the various bodies around us;and thus,beginning with the simplest experiments of pushing and pulling,I shall gradually proceed to distinguish these powers one from the other,and
37、compare the way in which they combine together.This world upon which we stand(and we have not much need to travel out of the world for illustrations of our subject;but the mind of man is not confined like the matter of his body,and thus he may and does travel outward,for wherever his sight can pierc
38、e,there his observations can penetrate)is pretty nearly a round globe,having its surface disposed in a manner of which this terrestrial globe by my side is a rough model;so much is land and so much is water;and by looking at it here we see in a sort of map or picture how the world is formed upon its
39、 surface.Then,when we come to examine farther,I refer you to this sectional diagram of the geological strata of the earth,in which there is a more elaborate view of what is beneath the surface of our globe.And,when we come to dig 百年哈佛 50 部经典 英文版 Harvard Classics 第 30 卷 科学论文集：物理学、化学、天文学、地质学 11/346 in
40、to or examine it(as man does for his own instruction and advantage,in a variety of ways),we see that it is made up of different kinds of matter,subject to a very few powers;and all disposed in this strange and wonderful way,which gives to man a historyand such a historyas to what there is in those v
41、eins,in those rocks,the ores,the water-springs,the atmosphere around,and all varieties of material substances,held together by means of forces in one great mass,8,000 miles in diameter,that the mind is overwhelmed in contemplation of the wonderful history related by these strata(some of which are fi
42、ne and thin like sheets of paper),all formed in succession by the forces of which I have spoken.I now shall try to help your attention to what I may say by directing,to-day,our thoughts to one kind of power.You see what I mean by the term matterany of these things that I can lay hold of with the han
43、d,or in a bag(for I may take hold of the air by inclosing it in a bag)they are all portions of matter with which we have to deal at present,generally or particularly,as I may require to illustrate my subject.Here is the sort of matter which we call waterit is there ice pointing to a block of ice upo
44、n the table,there waterpointing to the water boiling in a flaskhere vaporyou see it issuing out from the top of the flask.Do not suppose that that ice and that water are two entirely different things,or that the steam rising in bubbles and ascending in vapor there is absolutely different from the fl
45、uid water:it may be different in some particulars,having reference to the amounts of power which it contains;but it is the same,nevertheless,as the great ocean of water around our globe,and I employ it here for the sake of illustration,because if we look into it we shall find that it supplies us wit
46、h examples of all the powers to which I shall have to refer.For instance,here is waterit is heavy;but let us examine it with regard to the amount of its heaviness or its gravity.I have before me a little glass vessel and scales nearly equipoised scales,one of which contained a half-pint glass vessel
47、,and the glass vessel is at present the 百年哈佛 50 部经典 英文版 Harvard Classics 第 30 卷 科学论文集：物理学、化学、天文学、地质学 12/346 lighter of the two;but if I now take some water and pour it in,you see that that side of the scales immediately goes down;that shows you(using common language,which I will not suppose for the
48、present you have hitherto applied very strictly)that it is heavy,and if I put this additional weight into the opposite scale,I should not wonder if this vessel would hold water enough to weigh it down.The lecturer poured more water into the jar,which again went down.Why do I hold the bottle above th
49、e vessel to pour the water into it?You will say,because experience has taught me that it is necessary.I do it for a better reason because it is a law of nature that the water should fall toward the earth,and therefore the very means which I use to cause the water to enter the vessel are those which
50、will carry the whole body of water down.That power is what we call gravity,and you see there pointing to the scales a good deal of water gravitating toward the earth.Now here exhibiting a small piece of platinum注 1 is another thing which gravitates toward the earth as much as the whole of that water
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