Faraday to William Robert Grove   21 December 1842

Royal Institution | 21 Decr. 1842

My dear Grove

We were talking in the dark the other night¹. I had not then seen the account in the Phil Mag² but only a note of yours to I think the Editor of Lit Gazette³. That I thought too short: the other is very different and though I know you could have added much more important thought still I have nothing to say about it but what is good.

As to the Royal Soc. you know my feeling towards it is for what it has been & I hope may be. Its present state is not wholesome. You are aware that I am not on the Council & have not been for years & have been to no meeting there for years but I do hope for better times. I do not wonder at your feeling. All I meant to express was a wish that its circumstances & character should improve & that it should again become a desirable reunion of all really scientific men. It has done much - it is now doing much in some parts of Science as its Magnetic observations shew & I hope will some day become altogether healthy.

Ever my Dear Grove | Yours sincerely | M. Faraday

W.R. Grove Esq | &c &c &c

Thanks for the Paper