Faraday to William Gravatt   16 September 1839

Royal Institution | 16 Sept. 1839.

My dear Sir

I am much obliged by your letter but did not mean to trouble you on the occasion, except to consult with you next Wednesday¹ & ask your advice. The matter regards the examination; which, as it is intended to shew who has taken advantage of the instruction in the lectures and who has not, should not be thwarted or become a mere matter of form. I think you will be aware that I have several times noticed & disapproved of the practice of some to prompt others in their answers; and requested that it should not be continued: yet this it was which drew forth my remarks last Wednesday². I certainly consider it a degree of mental degradation in a young man, when he is willing to do that in secret which he does not do openly, and knows he ought not to do at all; and such is the case of the prompter. As to the prompted, I have more respect by far for the person who would openly acknowledge his inability to answer a question, than for him who would use the secretly imparted knowledge of another, and so claim that credit which is not his due. I intended to consult you and the Deputy Governor³ as to what you would think of the plan of calling these gentleman whom I intended to examine from their seats after lecture, and making them stand separately from the seats, & from each other, during the examination. I should be very sorry indeed to do so, as I should consider such a proceeding a great degradation. I sincerely hope that no such plan will be necessary: but on the other hand that the practice complained of must be stopped, whatever the means may be, necessary for that purpose, is a point on which I am sure you will agree with me⁴.

I am | My dear Sir | Your Very Obliged Servant | M. Faraday

Coll Gravatt | &c &c &c

Endorsed: (See order 17th Sept. 1839)