Faraday to Richard Wellesley Rothman   9 June 18431

Royal Institution | 9 June 1843

My dear Sir

If there is to be any chemistry at all I do not know how to make the indication of that which is needful more simple than it now is at the marked pages 13 & 14 of the copy which I return. It is in fact not more extensive than that at page 7 but is more developed to guide the students mind. If any thing more be left out less than the whole it may be the parts included within pencil lines. It appears to me however that all will depend upon the papers which the examiner draws up and which may be either though founded upon exactly the same statement of subjects. If Chemistry is to be at all a point I do not think that the student should read for less than I have put down; on the other hand I do not think that a matriculation examination should require more than a general knowledge of these things2[.]

I am My dear Sir | Very Truly Yours | M. Faraday

R.W. Rothman Esq | &c &c &c

1
Richard Wellesley Rothman (d.1856, age 56, GRO, B3). Registrar of University of London, 1838-1856.
2
These were Faraday's comments on the outcome of a committee of the Senate of the University of London appointed to consider examinations (Senate Minutes, 3 May 1843, pp.27-8). The committee met on 6 June 1843 (Minutes in University of London Library MS ST3/1, pp.136-7). The particular issue discussed in this letter was raised because of complaints that there was too much science required by the examination regulations (Senate Minutes, 28 April 1843, pp.25-7). The paper to which Faraday refers appears to be Neil Arnott's (1788-1874, DNB, scientific writer) considerations on the issue which he tabled at the meeting and which has not been found. The report of the committee recommended that candidates should show some knowledge of chemistry for matriculation, but not for the BA degree. The Senate rejected this recommendation (Senate Minutes, 21 June 1843, pp.38-40).

Please cite as “Faraday1501,” in Ɛpsilon: The Michael Faraday Collection accessed on 29 April 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/faraday/letters/Faraday1501