mathematics. Extracts from Faraday's writings are particularly effective at illuminating his personality. One example comes from his letter to Tyndall after an acrimonious scientific meeting in 1855: "I found.. . .as a general rule. it was better to be a little dull of apprehension where phrases seemed to imply pique, and quick in perception when, on the contrary they seemed to imply kindly feeling."
The remaining three chapters focus on the Royal Institution, the unique legacy that is "part university, part museum. part research centre, part classroom, part library, part club. part exhibition and broadcasting center amongst other things." Readers who have known it primarily as the address of such luminaries as Davy, Huxley. Rayleigh. and most of the outstanding X-ray crystallographers of our century will learn a great deal about the people and traditions behind this remarkable institution. Impressive extracts and lists demonstrate the scope of its famous Friday Evening Discourses and Christmas Lectures through the years and are accompanied by capsule biographies of many lecturers and members.
Faraday did much to establish the model for the clear, precise, elegant lectures that characterize the Royal Institution. The contents and writing of this book give evidence that the tradition continues healthily towards its third century.