Richard Owen to Faraday   c 12 December 18381

My dear Sir

Since my return to Town I have heard from Dr. Davy, who says "in my first paper on the Torpedo, in the Philos. Trans. for 1832, p.2632, there are some mistakes through inadvertancy which perhaps you will oblige me by correcting in your copy and also by bringing to the notice of Mr. Faraday

Line 19 for Zinc read Copper, or negative

20 - Copper - Zinc or positive

28 - Zinc - Copper

29 - Copper - Zinc"

I lose no time in complying with Dr. D's request and am glad to find by his letter that he met with every attention and facility in the prosecution of his experiments on the Gymnotus. I regret much that I did not hear the account of yours3, nor witness the additional experiments at the meeting at which I had hoped to have been present4[.]

Believe me, | My dear Sir, | very truly yours, | Richd Owen


Address: Ml. Faraday D.C.L. &c &c &c | Royal Institution | Albemarle Street.

1
Dated on the basis that letter 1124 is the answer.
2
Davy, J. (1832), 263.
3
Faraday (1839a), ERE15 was read to the Royal Society on 6 December 1838.
4
See Faraday, Diary, 26 November 1838 and 3 December 1838, 3: 5064-9 which describe Faraday's experiments on the Gymnotus at the Adelaide Gallery. For a discussion of Faraday's work on the Gymnotus, see Fisher (1991-2).

Bibliography

DAVY, John (1832): “An Account of some Experiments and Observations on the Torpedo (Raia Torpedo, Linn.)”, Phil. Trans., 122: 259-78.

FARADAY, Michael (1839a): “Experimental Researches in Electricity. - Fifteenth Series. Notice of the character and direction of the electric force of the Gymnotus”, Phil. Trans., 129: 1-12.

FISHER, Howard (1991-2): “The Body Electric”, St John's Rev., 41: 1-37.

Please cite as “Faraday1123,” in Ɛpsilon: The Michael Faraday Collection accessed on 28 April 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/faraday/letters/Faraday1123