Faraday to John Stuart Forbes   12 November 18321

Royal Institution | 12 November 1832

Sir

I hasten to acknowledge the receipt of your letter although under such circumstances as prevents me from acceding to your request.

I have already been applied to by a gentleman from Scotland a Professor & Lecturer whom I know very well; to give him a recommendation; but in consequence of my general aversion to assume the appearance of judging other[s] & also some private circumstances2 have declined doing so but in declining could not but promise that I should do it for no one. You will perceive therefore that I am unable to assist Mr Forbes in the present case3[.]

I ought however to say to you what I have said to my other friend that if the deciding body ask my opinion of this or that person I should feel it a point of respect to answer[.] But as I now know of two friends in the field & I suspect shall quickly hear of a third4 I could in any case only speak what I know of any candidate named and not offer a judgement between two or three[.]

I am | Sir | Your faithful Servant | M. Faraday

John S. Forbes Esq | &c &c


Address: John S. Forbes Esq | &c &c &c | Edinburgh

1
John Stuart Forbes (1804-1866, B5). Lawyer and brother of James David Forbes.
2
That is Faraday's membership of the Sandemanian church in which he had been appointed Deacon on 1 July 1832. Cantor (1991), 60.
3
For the Professorship of Natural Philosophy at the University of Edinburgh to which Forbes was elected.
4
The other candidates were (according to Shairp et al (1873), 83) David Brewster, William Ritchie, Thomas Galloway (1796-1851, DNB, mathematician) and John Stevelly (Professor of Natural Philosophy in Belfast, Shairp et al (1873), 83). For a short account of the contest between Forbes and Brewster see Shapin (1984), 18-9.

Bibliography

SHAPIN, Steven (1984): “Brewster and the Edinburgh Career in Science”, in Morrison-Low and Christie (1984), 17-23.

Please cite as “Faraday0626,” in Ɛpsilon: The Michael Faraday Collection accessed on 28 April 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/faraday/letters/Faraday0626