Chapter 62: Faraday’s Enthusiastic Advice
Chapter 62 Faraday’s Enthusiastic Advice
Gresham College, in the laboratories of the Royal Institute under the Royal Society.
Faraday was manipulating the experimental apparatus with one hand, while the other hand was still recording some data on paper from time to time.
At this time he completely lost the enthusiasm of that day in the lecture, he sometimes frowned tightly, and sometimes suddenly stretch open, after a moment of contemplation, he seems to understand what the key point, and suddenly clapped his hands full of smiles and walked toward the door.
But before he could reach the door, he realized that there was a familiar face sitting on the chair in the lab behind him.
Faraday first froze slightly for a moment, and then said in surprise, “Mr. Hastings, when did you come?”
Arthur stood up and took off his hat, “I’ve only just arrived, you can continue if you’re busy.”
The experimental apprentice at the side smiled and spoke, “Mr. Hastings has been here for a while, but he saw that you were doing experiments, so he didn’t have the heart to disturb you.”
Faraday smiled and waved his hand and said, “It is not necessary for you to do so, didn’t I tell you before? If you have any scientific difficulties, you can always come to the laboratory to find me.
By the way, I’m about to finish that paper on electromagnetic induction, do you want to go through it, help me check the gaps and fill in the gaps, and if there’s no doubt about it, by the way, sign your name at the back.”
“Sign your name?”
Hearing this, Arthur hurriedly refused, “I just provided some trivial little things, at best it’s some empirical methods, it’s no big deal.”
“Well ……”
Faraday sniffed and cupped his chin in contemplation for a while, “If you don’t want to sign your name …… By the way, have you ever published a paper on electricity? If not published, you can grasp this period of time to write a, mainly on your that Lawrence force, oh, no, is Hastings force. In that case, I can mark it for citation when I post the paper.”
Arthur cried and laughed when he heard this, “Mr. Faraday, why do you just have to bring me along? I’m just an amateur science enthusiast, and I only know a little bit about electricity, so I can’t take what I say casually as true.”
Hearing this, Faraday’s smiling face suddenly converged, he took a deep breath and his tone of voice became serious.
“Mr. Hastings, this thing called science cannot be taken for granted. Your conjecture I think has a certain theoretical basis, and is not something made up out of nothing and nonsense.
And, above all, if it is your discovery, it should be yours. I can concede on anything, but on this alone, I won’t budge an inch.
I am just an ordinary scientific researcher though, I have no status, just a civilian. I also have no wealth or status, so I can’t force anyone to follow orders.
But I also have my principles, and I will never steal anyone’s scientific achievements. On this point, I once swore to God with my life.
I ask you to forgive me for my offense, which is not directed against you. But please do consider my offer seriously, because I am not joking.”
Arthur was about to excuse himself, but the experimental apprentice beside him suddenly grabbed his sleeve and muttered in a low voice.
“Mr. Hastings, you should not be stubborn with Mr. Faraday.
He’s a very nice man, and usually very good at talking, but the only thing he’s extremely adamant about is scientific morality.
For he has been wounded in this respect before.
You may not know, early Mr. Faraday was once falsely accused of experimental plagiarism, if not for Mr. Faraday as a decent person, gritted his teeth and insisted on it, his research career and reputation almost all ruined.
Therefore, you should not continue to excuse yourself, he will be very sad.”
But although the young apprentice said so, Arthur could not harden his heart.
Faraday thought he was excusing himself, but in reality Arthur was not. It was fine for you to ask him to hunt down criminals, but to ask him to come up with a paper on electricity was not going to kill him, was it?
“Mr. Faraday, I’m really not excusing myself, I’m not going to lie, I actually graduated from the history department, and electrical papers and all that are really not my specialty.”
The smile on Faraday’s face returned when he saw his attitude loosen.
“It’s nothing. You at least went to college, whereas I only have a grade school diploma. If I can write something, surely you, a college student, will have no problem with it.
The career of a scientist is not as difficult as you think, and in case you don’t know, there are a lot of people in our profession who don’t have a higher education.
My mentor, Sir Humphry Davy, also only went to secondary school, but he became the best chemist in Britain through his hard work and diligence.
I can also be on hand to help you if you are not confident about writing a paper. As you can see, I spend almost every day in the lab and you can start by writing a first draft.
After you have written it, you can bring it here and I will accompany you to revise it again and again; diligence will make up for clumsiness, and we will always finish it successfully one day.”
When Arthur heard this, sweat came down on his forehead, “Okay, okay, I’ll think about it.”
Seeing this, Agares laughed so hard that he could hardly keep his mouth shut, “Arthur, I’m afraid this Faraday is trying to screw you over. Why don’t you get me a soul and I’ll help you with the paper?”
Seeing that Arthur finally accepted, Faraday was relieved in his heart, and he asked with a smile, “Which area are you planning to hear about when you come to me today? Electricity, or chemistry?”
Arthur hurriedly changed the topic, “To tell you the truth, I came to see you today for two purposes. Mr. Faraday, those knowledge about chemical gases that you gave me last time, I didn’t expect it to come in handy so soon.”
Faraday sniffed with some surprise: “Did you solve the case with it?”
Arthur smiled and nodded, “I can’t go into too much detail right now, but if the results finally come out, I believe you will read about it in the newspaper. The knowledge you handed me may have saved many lives.”
“That’s wonderful!”
Faraday excitedly patted Arthur’s shoulder, “Do you know why I love science? It’s because I believe that science can change this world for the better, thanks to you, Mr. Hastings!
Thanks to you, Mr. Hastings, I’ve been able to put my vision into practice, and I’m even happier to learn about it than I was about the discovery of electromagnetic induction!
What would you like to learn today? Distillation of benzene? Metallographic analysis? Liquefying chlorine and other gases? The production of hexachloroethane and perchloroethylene? Or the methods and laws of electrolysis?
Whatever you want to learn and I know how to do, I’m willing to teach you!”
Arthur quickly waved his hand and said, “Mr. Faraday, I can learn these things later. I came to you today to ask if you know any experts in the treatment of lung diseases; there is a dying little life in St. Giles Parish that is in dire need of a professional doctor to save it.”
“A specialist in the treatment of lung diseases?” Faraday thought for a moment, then suddenly clapped his hands and said, “You have really found the right person. Do you remember the last time I told you about nitrous oxide?”
“Nitrous oxide? Laughing gas?” Arthur couldn’t help but frown when he heard this term, “You continue.”
Faraday smiled, “In fact, the nature of nitrous oxide was discovered by chance by none other than my mentor, Sir Humphry Davy.
At that time, Clifton had founded a gas therapy institute, and their main research topic was about whether it was possible to treat lung diseases by breathing in gases.
My mentor was invited over to help with the research and he prepared a number of gases according to Joseph Priestley’s Experiments and Observations on Various Airs, one of which was nitrous oxide.
He was preparing a large vial full of nitrous oxide when Dr. Thomas Beddoes, the founder of the Institute, accidentally broke the vial and got the stuff all over the lab.
The two of them were in there laughing for about ten minutes or so, and when the others came in and realized that something was wrong, they rushed to pull them out of the room, and that’s when nothing happened.
Later, when I was an apprentice with my mentor, I even went to that gas institute, so wait a moment, I’ll copy the address to you.”
(End of chapter)