FARADAY AND HIS INFLUENCE ON OUR EVERYDAY LIFE. 215
two successive summer holidays by the sea we find him observing
sea-gulls in flight. Faraday meditates. "How do these birds
"fly ? And why may not a man or a machine fly in the same
"way in the same circumstances ?'' After nearly a century man
accomplished flight.
In contrast to Faraday, Benjamin Franklin—who died a
year before Faraday's birth—considered that practical utility
should be the ultimate aim of science. In illustration of
Franklin's practical outlook it is seasonable to recall a pleasure
party he proposed in 1748. "A turkey is to be killed for our
"dinner by the electrical shock, and roasted by the electrical
"jack before a fire kindled by the electrical bottle, when the
"healths of all the famous electricians in England, Holland,
"France and Germany are to be drunk in electrified bumpers,
"under the discharge of guns from the electrical battery."
Faraday and the Future.
Scientific discoveries and inventions may be at the same
time both a blessing and a curse to mankind. World-wide
wireless has made communication easy between nations, and
this tends to friendliness. But despite attempts to adjust
differences by discussion, warfare is waged—with appliances
born of science.
Faraday's discovery of electro-magnetic induction has brought
about the universal employment of machinery—unfortunately
eliminating handicraft and man-power in the production of
commodities. It has provided easy transport for distribution
of these goods. In fact, it has increased the technical efficiency
of the processes by which man's needs are supplied.
Science has yet to devise means for equitable distribution,
as between one man and another, of the products of the activity
—not so much of man but of man's machines. In that part of
our planet called the "civilised world" we see part of the
population producing goods at an increasing rate. The other
part is displaced by the machines used ; it starves, or receives
"unemployment maintenance."
Faraday's self-sacrificing labours brought him little wealth.
The world at large has enjoyed the fruits of his work. It has
made some people rich and others poor. The machine has
multiplied the output per man employed. The machine man