Royal Institution | London | 27th Dec. 1834.
To Baron Humboldt | &c &c &c
Sir
I felt so much honored by the receipt of a letter1 from you relative to some points in Electrical science that I have resolved to write to you again notwithstanding that I am in some doubt whether I ought to do so and whether I am not by so doing trespassing on your most valuable time[.] Still fearing on the other hand that you may not have received my letter2 I am so unwilling that any chance should arise of your thinking me insensible to the honor and kindness of your correspondence that I have determined at all events to write again[.]
In consequence of what you said about Gymnoti I made application to our President His Royal Highness the Duke of Sussex who with the Council the Admiralty & all others will assist in the object of procuring the Electrical Eel from Guiana but I took the liberty of writing to you to ask for such instructions as to the procuring keeping feeding &c &c both at Guiana, on the voyage & at home as I knew you so well could give. My letter I enclosed under cover to Lord Minto3 some months ago4: probably you have received it but are too importantly engaged to have time to think of such trifles as I wrote about - but if you have not received it how careless you will have thought me in the cause of science and how indifferent to your good will.
Perhaps you will have seen in the Philosophical Transactions Dr Davys further experiments upon the Torpedo5. All his results confirm my expectations. He has been able to heat a wire by the Torpedenal shock but has failed entirely in observing any spark.
I have taken the liberty of sending you by means of the box from the Royal Society a copy of my last paper on Electricity*6[.]
I have the honor to be | Monsieur le Baron | with all respect | Your obliged Servant | M. Faraday
Endorsed by Humboldt: * ich weiss auch nicht welches lezte Memoir gemeint sein kann?7
Address: Baron Humboldt | &c &c &c &c | Berlin
DAVY, John (1834): “Observations on the Torpedo, with an account of some additional Experiments on its Electricity”, Phil. Trans., 124: 531-50.
FARADAY, Michael (1834c): “Experimental Researches in Electricity. - Eighth Series. On the Electricity of the Voltaic Pile; its source, quantity, intensity, and general characters”, Phil. Trans., 124: 425-70.
Please cite as “Faraday0749,” in Ɛpsilon: The Michael Faraday Collection accessed on 28 April 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/faraday/letters/Faraday0749