George Biddell Airy to Faraday   2 December 1835

30, Woburn Place | 1835 Dec 2

My dear Sir

It is not improbable that some steps may be taken before long for the establishment of regular magnetic observations at the Royal Observatory¹. And it seems desirable that large bars (similar to those used on the Continent generally) should be used, and that these bars should be powerfully magnet‑ized. Now I wish to learn from you - whether there are not at the Royal Institution powerful horse-shoe magnets which could be advantageously employed for magnetizing such bars - and whether on my application these magnets could be lent to the instrument- maker who might be employed for the construction of the apparatus for the Royal Observatory[.]

I wish also to learn from you (as a matter of science as well as of practice) whether, supposing a horse-shoe bar of soft iron rendered pro tempore intensely magnetic by helices of a galvanic current (connected with the battery &c by flexible wires), such a temporary magnet might not be used to give strong permanent magnetism to a hard steel bar: and in that case, whether any of the apparatus of the Royal Institution could be placed under our management for this purpose.

I am dear Sir | Very truly yours | G.B. Airy

Dr. Faraday