My dear Sir
As Mr. Iselin1 an acquaintance of mine is going to London I cannot let pass this favorable opportunity without presenting to you my best compliments.
Since I had the honor to write you my last letter I have been working rather hard in making voltaic researches and I think I may be allowed to say that my endeavours have not proved altogether fruitless. Amongst other facts hitherto not yet well understood I have been trying to clear up by experiment those which refer to the voltaic polarisation of polar wires, the polarisation of electrolytic fluids, the apparent change of the electro-motive power of metals and the secon‑dary piles of Ritter. As far as I am able to judge the results of my researches are such as to throw a strong light upon the cause of the phenomena alluded to and to prove that the latter are only due to ordinary chemical action and that there is no such thing as any change of the electro-chemical nature of any metal or a true voltaic polarisation. The forthcoming number of the Bibliothèque universelle will publish a memoir in which I have given an account of some of my investigations2. In the same paper I have pointed out to the attention of philosophers the very remarkable and close analogy that exists between the voltaic action of Chlorine and Bromine and that of the peroxides of Manganese, Lead and Silver. I am almost sure that the way in which I explain the voltaic effects produced by the named substances will very nearly coincide with your views upon the subject. As to the peculiar condition of iron I think I have at last discovered its true cause. Having still some experiments to perform in order to put my theory beyond doubt I will not entertain you with the details of it. I can, however not omit to say that I have reason to consider the peroxide of hydrogen as the immediate cause of the anomalous bearings of inactive iron.
I hope to be able of publishing before long a satisfactory account of all the voltaic phenomena which that metal gives rise to; at the same time I shall communicate a series of new facts regarding the voltaic action of peroxide of hydrogen which by the bye is a most interesting substance in a galvanic point of view.
I am just writing a little work, in which (what the French call) the "galvanisation" of metals is treated of according to the present state of electrical Science and proved by matter‑-of-fact arguments that the tensile electrical state of bodies does not in the least interfere with the chemical bearings natural to them. You know much better than I do that in a scientific point of view the principle laid down by Sir H. Davy with regard to the subject in question is erroneous and that ‑nevertheless a great many scientific and practical men continue to consider it as true. You will therefore agree with me that it is rather a reasonable undertaking to remove false notions by establishing a true theory of galvanisation.
Do you think it likely that an english bookseller would be inclined to publish a little work (of about 4 sheets) of that description and pay something for its copyright? You will oblige me very much by letting me know your opinion about this matter and give your kind council upon it.
I take the liberty to send you some papers of mine which I published in German last year; that on voltaic polarisation3 will perhaps be known to you by the Bibl. univ4. If you should happen to see Mr. Daniell and Dr. Buckland pray be so kind to deliver to them the parcels inclosed.
These last four or five months I have not seen any number of the Philosophical Magazine (the only scientific journal published in English I have access to at Bâle). I know consequently not the least of what is going on in the philosophical world on the other side of the water.
As to your recent researches on electric induction, I am also almost completely unacquainted with their results.
Before closing my letter I take the liberty to recommend to you its bearer Mr Iselin, he is an excellent young man and belonging to a highly respectable family of Bâle.
I am my dear Sir | Your's | most truly | C.F. Schoenbein
Bâle Febr. 18th 1839.
Address: Doctor Faraday | &c &c &c | Royal Institution | London
SCHOENBEIN, Christian Friedrich (1838g): “Beobachtungen über die electrische Polarisation fester und flüssiger Leiter”, Schweizer. Gesell. Verhand., 84-102.
SCHOENBEIN, Christian Friedrich (1838j): “Observations sur la polarisation électrique des conducteurs solides et liquides”, Bibl. Univ., 18: 166-81.
SCHOENBEIN, Christian Friedrich (1839c): “Observations sur les modifications chimique qu'éprouvent l'acide nitrique, l'alcool et l'éther, sous la double influence du courant voltaique et du platine”, Bibl. Univ., 21: 358-75.
Please cite as “Faraday1145,” in Ɛpsilon: The Michael Faraday Collection accessed on 27 April 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/faraday/letters/Faraday1145