Eleventh Duke of Somerset to Faraday   26 January 1832

Dear Sir

Having been frequently asked a question, which I can not answer, from not understanding chemistry, I have determined upon writing to you, in the hope that you will solve it.

A neighbour of mine wants to know how water is combustible. That it is so, and that the diamond is so, were conjectures of Sir Isaac Newton1, and the Encyclopaedia explains how the latter conjecture was confirmed2 particularly by Lavoisier3. We do not find a similar explanation with regard to the former; and, at first view, nothing appears more incomprehensible. If you could help us out of this difficulty, I should feel very much obliged.

I remain | Dear Sir | your obedient faithful Servant | Somerset.

Stover, 26th Jany 1832

To Mr. Faraday

1
Isaac Newton (1642-1727, DSB). Natural philosopher.
2
"Chemistry", Encyclopaedia Britannica,4th edition, 1810, 5: 496 ascribes this view of water to Newton. This seems to be a rather free interpretation of Newton (1730), Book 2, Part 3, Proposition 10.
3
Antoine-Laurent Lavoisier (1743-1794, DSB). French chemist.

Bibliography

NEWTON, Isaac (1730): Opticks: Or, A treatise of the Reflections, Refractions, Inflections and Colours of Light, 4th edition, London.

Please cite as “Faraday0534,” in Ɛpsilon: The Michael Faraday Collection accessed on 29 April 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/faraday/letters/Faraday0534