TALBOT7071

N S Maskelyne Esq

Athenæum ¹
Nov. 29

D^r Sir

In your letter of the 26^{th 2} you say you wish to see the descriptions in the Philosoph^l Trans^{ns 3} I do not quite know what descriptions you allude to, if to Sir J. Herschel’s papers, ⁴ that of 1839 contains nothing, that of 1840 only one sentence applicable to the question at issue, viz. where he names gallic acid as a reagent, but says its success is problematical vide his affidavit ⁵ –

There is no intimation in what way he tried it, indeed his words rather convey the meaning that some one else had tried it ⁶ and with no decided result.

Yours Truly
H. F. Talbot

This last remark is perhaps erroneous, but if Herschel himself tried it unsuccessfully it only follows that the true manipulation was not so easy to discover as the defendant ⁷ and his friends now pretend –