Joseph Hume to Faraday   29 April 1839

Bry Sq 29 April 1839

Sir

As an experiment is now making by Mr Gurney to light the House of Commons1 by Oxygen (or Bude) Light, and some doubts, having been expressed by a member of the House2 as to the danger, from explosion, by the use of that light, I beg of you, as your attention has been directed to the subject3, to state as shortly as you can how far it will be safe to use the light, if the experiment should succeed.

I would not trouble you on this occasion if I was not anxious to remove all grounds of alarm and give Mr Gurney a fair opportunity of making his experiment and, therefore, trust you will excuse the trouble from

Your Obedient Servant | Joseph Hume

M. Faraday Esq

1
Hume was chairman of the Select Committee on the lighting of the new House of Commons. Faraday gave evidence on 30 May 1839. Parliamentary Papers, 1839 <(501)> xiii, pp.7-9.
2
Frederick William Trench (1775-1859, DNB). Tory MP for Scarborough, 1835-1847. For his doubts see Parliamentary Papers, 1839 <(501)> xiii, p.69.

Please cite as “Faraday1167,” in Ɛpsilon: The Michael Faraday Collection accessed on 2 May 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/faraday/letters/Faraday1167