Democratic Sentinel, Volume 17, Number 20, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 June 1893 — Scrubbing the Floor. [ARTICLE]

Scrubbing the Floor.

i: n incident is told by Dr. Scoffern wh ch illustrates in a pleasant way the guod humor and geniality which belonged to Michael Faraday as much during his later as his earlier years. Professor Brande, during the year 1851, was lecturing at one time on a newly discovered method of purifying sugar by sugar of lead; while they were in the laboratory Scoffern accidentally let fall a retort of corrosive liquid. In an instant, he tells us, Professor Faraday threw some soda on the floor; then down on his hands and knees he went, slop-cloth in hand, like any humble housemaid. “Laughing, I expressed my desire to photograph him then and there; he demurred at the pose, begged me to consult his dignity, and began laugjiing with a childish joyousness.” Hilariously Doyish upon occasion he could be, and those who knew him best knew he was never more at home and never seemed so pleased as when making an “old boy” of himself, as he was wont to say, lecturing before a juvenile audience at Christmas time.