LAWS OF ELECTROLYTIC CONDUCTION
year, he left the institution to accompany Davy, as secretary and chemical assistant, on an extended continental tour, which proved to be of the greatest value to him, not only for the broadening influence of travel it afforded, but also for the acquaintances he made with all the leading scientists in Europe, many of whom became later his friends and correspondents. On his return to England in the spring of 1815 he obtained a reappointment, and took up his residence at the Royal Institution. From this time he entered upon that wonderful career of investigation which soon placed him without a peer among his contemporaries.
In 1825 Faraday was appointed Director of the Laboratory at the Royal Institution. The following year he instituted the Friday Evening Lectures, and there demonstrated his wonderful ability to interest and hold the attention of popular audiences, by his personal magnetism and his clear and entertaining exposition of scientific questions. He was made a member of many learned societies, including the Royal Society, and received the degree of D.C.L. from the University of Oxford. He declined positions more remunerative than that at the Royal Institution, out of loyalty to the institution which had done so much for his advancement, and refused to devote his time to the commercial development of his many discoveries, although the pecuniary inducements were great. In 1840 he became an elder in the Sandemarian Church, of which he was an active member.
In 1821 Faraday married Miss Sarah Barnard, the marriage being an ideally happy one. He and his wife lived at the Royal Institution until 1858, when the Queen placed a house at Hampton Court at their disposal. Here he spent the remaining years of his life, continuing active work, however, at the Royal Institution until 1865.
He passed peacefully away at Hampton Court, August 25, 1867. His headstone, in Highgate Cemetery, bears the simple inscription:
Michael Faraday
Born 22nd September
1791
Died 25th August
1867
45
