ABSTRACT
FARADAY was almost sixty, a grand old man of science, by the time he had finished his researches in diamagnetism and had outlined his metaphysical views. Though his experimental discoverieswere at the centre of all experimental and theoretical research in electricity and magnetism, the scientific community paid scant attention to his theories. For example, no one had recognized that his theory oflines offorce was anything more than an illustrative device; in fact, the first mathematical theory of electromagnetic induction, developed by F. E. Neumann, made no mention of the lines of force.
