Maxwell's greatest tribute to Faraday

In this centennial year of the publication of " A Dynamical Theory of the Electromagnetic Field" special interest attaches to James Clerk-Maxwell and his ideas. The author has found two little-known observations by Maxwell on his regard for Faraday's conceptions. Maxwell's indebtedness to Faraday, for providing the notions upon which an Electromagnetic Theory could be based, is well known (SPECTRUM, December, 1964). A confirmatory anecdote related by the late Sir William Bragg in a lecture he gave in 1941 at the Royal Institution in London is noted. A second, more important development occurred after Maxwell had completed his famous Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism, published in 1873. It appears he embarked on An Elementary Treatise on Electricity. In the preface of this book Maxwell made some sensational statements. The book was published posthumously, incomplete, in 1881, and only a fragment of the preface remains. With acknowledgements to the Oxford University Press we quote a Fragment of Author's Preface. Maxwell is shown to have taken the view originated by Bacon that evolutionary knowledge must include induction from instances as well as deduction from premises. Our modern scientific civilization is essentially Baconian. Faraday discovered electromagnetism, Maxwell deduced that light was an electromagnetic phenomenon. Experiment and analysis must always be complementary, whence Maxwell's greatest tribute to Faraday, as chronicled here.