comparatively near future, may be a nearer approach to a
mastery of the laws which govern the combination of elementary
substances when under the influence of plant-life. If these laws ever
become so well known that man is able to form hi his laboratory the
various food products that are now formed naturally in plant organisms,
such a revolution would be wrought that the work of the agriculturist
would be largely transferred to the electro-chemist. Some little has
already been done in the direct formation of some vegetable substances,
such as camphor, the peculiar flavoring substance present in the vanilla
bean, and in many other substances. Should such discoveries ever reach
to the direct formation of some food staple, the wide-reaching
importance and significance of the discovery would be almost beyond
comprehension.

But, while the direct electro-synthetic formation of food products is
yet to be accomplished on a practical scale, the problem appears to be
nearing actual solution in an indirect manner. It has been known since
the time of Cavendish, in 1785, that small quantities of nitric acid
could be formed directly from the nitrogen and oxygen of the atmosphere
by the passage of electric sparks; but heretofore, the quantity so found
has been too small to be of any commercial value. Quite recently,
however, one of the electro-chemical companies at Niagara Falls has
succeeded in commercially solving the important problem of the fixation
of the nitrogen of the atmosphere; it being claimed that the cost of
thus producing one ton of commercial nitric acid, of a market value of
over eighty dollars, does not greatly exceed twenty dollars. Since
sodium nitrate can readily be produced by the process, and its value as
a fertilizer of wheat-fields is too well known to need comment, there
would thus, to a limited extent, be indirectly solved the
electro-chemical production of food staples.

Faraday's high rank as an investigator in the domain of natural science
was fully recognized by the learned societies of his time, by admission
into their fellowships. As early as 1824, he was honored by the Royal
Society of London by election as one of its Fellows, and in 1825 he had
become a member of the Royal Institution. It is recorded of the great
philosopher that the membership in the Royal Institution was the only
one which he personally sought; all others came unsought, but they came
so rapidly from all portions of the globe that