I then endeavoured to show that it is more especially in the thorough conformity with law which natural phenomena and natural products exhibit, and in the comparative ease with which laws can be stated, that this difference exists.
Hermann von HelmholtzBlack is real sensation, even if it is produced by entire absence of light. The sensation of black is distinctly different from the lack of all sensations.
Hermann von HelmholtzI think the facts leave no doubt that the very mightiest among the chemical forces are of electric origin. The atoms cling to their electric charges, and opposite electric charges cling to each other.
Hermann von HelmholtzIsolated facts and experiments have in themselves no value, however great their number may be. They only become valuable in a theoretical or practical point of view when they make us acquainted with the law of a series of uniformly recurring phenomena, or, it may be, only give a negative result showing an incompleteness in our knowledge of such a law, till then held to be perfect.
Hermann von HelmholtzMusic stands in a much closer connection with pure sensation than any of the other arts.
Hermann von HelmholtzThe most startling result of Faraday's Law is perhaps this. If we accept the hypothesis that the elementary substances are composed of atoms, we cannot avoid concluding that electricity also, positive as well as negative, is divided into definite elementary portions, which behave like atoms of electricity.
Hermann von Helmholtz