In the wake of Ø rsted ’ s discovery, the entwined stories of Charles Wheatstone and Michael
Faraday likewise interwove sound and electromagnetism. Starting out as an apprentice
bookbinder, Faraday altogether lacked mathematical education; he said he could not
understand a single equation. From his earliest work as a laboratory assistant to Humphrey
Davy, Faraday thought in terms of experiments, in the felt reality of observation and
manipulation, his visual turn of mind manifested in the constant sketches he put in his
diaries, essential adjuncts to his hands-on experiences. His cultural awareness was far more
sonic; he never mentions paintings or the visual arts but at several points makes clear his
strong love of music.
Writing in 1813 to his close friend Benjamin Abbott, the young Faraday begins by
quoting Shakespeare ’ s famous encomium of music: “ ‘ He that hath not music in his heart
& c ’ confound the music say I. — it turns my thoughts quite round or halfway round from
the letter ” that Faraday is trying to write. His joke implies that Shakespeare ’ s line scarcely
does justice to Faraday ’ s infatuation with the music he hears in the night. “ You must know
Sir that there is a grand party dinner at Jacques hotell which immediately faces the back
of the [Royal] institution and the music is so excellent that I cannot for the life of me keep
from running at every new piece they play to the window to hear them — I shall do no
good at this letter tonight and so will get to bed and ‘ listen listen to the voice of ’ bassoons
violins clarinets trumpets serpents and all the other accessories of good music — I cant stop
good night. ”^1 By this time, Faraday had just become Davy ’ s “ chemical assistant ” at the
Royal Institution, whose fame Faraday later augmented through his popular lectures,
alongside his ceaseless stream of experiments and publications. In 1813 he was only begin-
ning along that path, using his letters to improve his writing, studying elocution several
times a week to rectify his pronunciation and overcome the signs of his lower-class back-
ground, though phonetic problems dogged him all his life (he could not pronounce the
letter “ r ” and called his brother “ Wobert ” ).^2 His struggle with his own phonemes paralleled
his attention to sonic questions.
Beginning his scientific life with Davy, chemistry occupied the first phase of Faraday ’ s
activity, though he increasingly devoted his attention to electricity and magnetism, as did
barré
(Barré)
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