Faraday to Edward Solly   23 November 1836

R Institution | 23 Nov. 1836

Dear Edwd

I received yours but did not intend to answer it hearing from Mr. Horsman Solly that you would both be in town in the course of two or three days. Keep fast hold of the aurora but more particularly the storm & let Miss Armetti1 tax her memory as well as yours for we must have the account free from all exaggeration or invention or mere belief of the particulars[.]

I had seen Mr Sturgeons2 criticism3 but it did not disturb me simply because I was glad to find that the arguments he uses are of no force[.] It might have been that he had found a good objection & then I should have been very sorry.

I have however no intention of taking any notice of it. It would be some fun to send him Baron Humboldts letter to me in which he selects that very paper as the foundation of compliment & praise4 only I cannot consent to use the letter for such a small purpose or quote Humboldts name in sport[.]

Remember me to Armetti5. I hope to see you both here soon.

Yours Most Truly | M. Faraday

Edw Solly Esq | &c

1
Unidentified.
2
William Sturgeon (1783-1850, DSB). Electrical experimenter and lecturer at the Adelaide Gallery.
3
Sturgeon (1836) was an adverse criticism of Faraday (1833a), ERE3. For the context of this see Morus (1992).
4
Letter 723.
5
Unidentified.

Bibliography

FARADAY, Michael (1833a): “Experimental Researches in Electricity. - Third Series. Identity of Electricities derived from different sources. Relation by measure of common and voltaic Electricity”, Phil. Trans., 123: 23-54.

MORUS, Iwan R. (1992): “Different Experimental Lives: Michael Faraday and William Sturgeon”, Hist. Sci., 30: 1-28.

STURGEON, William (1836): “On the Relation by measure of Common and Voltaic Electricity”, Ann. Elec., 1: 52-60.

Please cite as “Faraday0952,” in Ɛpsilon: The Michael Faraday Collection accessed on 1 May 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/faraday/letters/Faraday0952