The journey of Faraday abroad with Sir H. Davy was one of the few episodes that occurred in his life. It lasted only one year and a half.

During this time he kept a journal, and wrote letters to his mother, sisters, and friends; chiefly, however, to Abbott.

The journal, of which only some extracts are here given, is remarkable for the minuteness of the description of all he saw, and for its cautious silence regarding those he was with. It gives, however, full details regarding Sir H. Davy's scientific work. He says he wrote it, ‘not to instruct or to inform, or to convey even an imperfect idea of what it speaks; its sole use is to recall to my mind at some future time the things I see now, and the most effectual way to do that will be, I conceive, to write down, be they good or bad, my present impressions.’

The letters are full of the warmth of his affection, the sensitiveness of his feeling, and the earnestness of his desire for self-improvement.

In one of his first letters to his mother he says, ‘The first and last thing in my mind is England, home, and friends. It is the point to which my thoughts still ultimately tend, the goal to which, looking over intermediate things, my eyes are still directed… Whenever a vacant hour occurs, I employ it by thinking of those at home.