Faraday to William Manley Hall Dixon   25 September 18431

R Institution | 25th Sept 1843

Dr Sir,

I have examin'd the water, and it is peculiar in several points; first it is very heavy as compared to the average of Sea Water being of Spec. grav. 1028, and containing per pint 365 grains of saline matter. In the next place it contained much Sulphuretted Hydrogen, and also a portion of solid deposit which was about one half sulphur & the other half organic matter. There has no doubt been considerable change in the contents of the water & I cannot now recognise organic forms, but the presence of the animal matter, the Sulphur, and the Sulphuretted Hydrogen all agree with the idea that the water when taken up, was rich in animals or animalculae2.

I am Sir | yours very truly | M. Faraday

Lt. Dixon R.A | &c &c &c

1
William Manley Hall Dixon (1817-1888, B1). Royal Artillery Officer.
2
This sample was taken from sea water which displayed a large luminous spot through which a ship had sailed. See Dixon (1843).

Bibliography

DIXON, William Manley Hall (1843): “An Account of a remarkably large and luminous Spot in the Sea”, Proc. Roy. Soc., 4: 475-6.

Please cite as “Faraday1527,” in Ɛpsilon: The Michael Faraday Collection accessed on 28 April 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/faraday/letters/Faraday1527