Text Online
From:
Michael Faraday
To:
William Ambrose
Date:
1 October 1841
Source of text:
Strathclyde University Archives MS C8/1/220
Summary:
No summary available.
Contributor:
Faraday Project
No summary available.
A testimonial on behalf of Olinthus Gilbert Gregory, deceased, to assist Mrs. Gregory in obtaining a Civil List pension.
Explains the phenomenon known as the 'harvest moon.'
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Has visited scientific institutions in the British Isles, and is writing to make arrangements to see JH. Talks about Halley's Comet.
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JDH apologises for not writing sooner to Mrs [Mary] Richardson [wife of Dr Sir John Richardson of the Royal Hospital at Haslar where young naval surgeons awaited assignment]. He thanks Richardson for her letter & the news of family & friends at Haslar. In answer to her query JDH states his feelings about going to sea in naval service to pursue science, & how the service suits him. The HMS 'Erebus' is currently alongside the HMS 'Favourite', JDH likes the officers but thinks the Navy offers little financial reward or future security. Mentions Richardson's account of the Daguerrotype in her letter & her account of the usefulness of the penny post to naturalists. Thanks Richardson for her congratulations to his father, William Jackson Hooker, on his appointment as Director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Mentions his sisters & alludes to their uncertain state of health. JDH explains that on ship he spends more time on botany that on his actual profession: medicine, & Captain [James Clark] Ross has made comfortable provisions for his natural history work. When he can explore there are always many specimens of the lower orders of the vegetable kingdom to collect in New Zealand [moss, lichen, fungi etc] & he & Ross also make zoological collections & observations: of birds, insects, fish & shells. He notes that Dr Richardson would be interested in a kind of tunny known as a yellow tail, a beautiful salmon & several Ribband fish from the Antarctic circle. The marine life found in the towing nets is diverse, including crustacea, & has much in common with life in the Arctic seas. JDH writes of his friends Kay & Hepburn in Van Diemen's Land [Tasmania], the latter has a garden enriched with gifts from the Government Garden at Hobart Town, given by Miss Craycroft & Miss Franklin. JDH praises Sir John Franklin, the Governor, very highly & JDH is flattered by his interest in himself & the expedition: Franklin always asks for news of them from Dayman at the observatory.
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Charles Babbage will bring ZZ's Italian translation of Madame Somerville's On the Connection of the Physical Sciences to JH. Hopes to translate JH's Treatise Astr. into Italian soon. May ZZ list JH among ZZ's formal associates?
Sends [James Clark] Ross's journal and revised B.A.A.S. magnetic report. Discusses proposals for observation in Africa. ES will send various instruments to Africa.
Points out an error JH has made concerning J. E. Bode's law. What is the proper notation for the satellites?
Asks HO if he can discover, without mentioning JH's name, what it might cost JH to be formally enrolled in Denmark for the honor he has received [see JH's 1841-6-20].
As the Committee is to meet on Thursday he thinks it should reconsider its decision not to publish W. H. F. Talbot's paper on the Calotype process. Gives reasons as stated in a letter he has received from Talbot.
Thanks WS for Pulkowa Medal. Problematic health and large family make visit to WS impossible. Mentions [Francis] Baily's hope of terminating 'Cavendish experiment.' Sends copy of 'Revision of Southern Constellations.'
Is delighted to hear that the Cavendish experiments are proving successful. Is progressing slowly with the reductions of his own southern sweeps. Regarding a state pension for Mrs. Gregory (widow of O. G. Gregory); would FB give him some idea of Mrs. Gregory's circumstances.