TOWARDS A HISTORY OF ELECTRO-METALLURGY, ESTABLISHING THE ORIGIN OF THE ART. BY HENRY DIRCKS, CIVIL ENGINEER; CORRESPONDING MEMBER OF THE LIVERPOOL POLYTECHNIC SOCIET LIFE MEMBER (1837) OF THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION, &c. E. & F. N. SPON, 16, BUCKLERSBURY. - 1863. Aso e H. 196. b. 16 DEDICATION. To MICHAEL FARADAY, ESQ., D. C. L., OXON.; L. L. D., CAM.; F. R. S.; FULLERIAN PROFESSOR OF CHEMISTRY IN THE ROYAL INSTITUTION OF GREAT BRITAIN, &c. &c. &c. SIR, From the distinguished position which you hold in connexion with Electrical Science, as well on the continents of Europe and America as in England, I feel that a higher honour than the inscribing of so small a work as the present, is due to you; but permit me to adduce a few, and, as I conceive, cogent reasons for adopting a course which, otherwise, perhaps, might be open to erroneous conclusions. The history of early inventions, even of many that have most contributed to the necessities and luxuries of life, have been either wholly lost, or continue as matters of unsatisfactory dispute. Of this latter fact the history of the Steam Engine is an eminent example; and that of Electro-Metallurgy was, twenty-four years ago, in an equally fair way to become one of litigation among scientific writers. But as the present work clearly settles the true position of all matters affecting the origin of Electro-Metallurgy, I would beg to notice here, more especially, your early association with that subject. When the British Association held its first Meeting in Liverpool in 1837, the new, and previously unoccupied building |