Justus Liebig to Faraday   19 December 1844

Giessen | 19 Dec. 1844

Dear Faraday,

I intended to have written you long ago of my safe arrival and that I had found my wife and children well. The opening of my winter course and a mass of work which had accumulated during my absence, have hitherto prevented my fulfilling my intentions. Now however that I have a few days of rest during the Christmas holidays, I will not let the opportunity slip, of wishing you, with my whole heart, a merry Christmas and happy new year. Often do my thoughts wander back to the period which I spent in England; among the many pleasant hours of which, the remembrance of those passed with you and your estimable wife is to me always the dearest & most agreeable. With the purest pleasure I bring to mind my walk with her, in the botanical garden at York¹, when I was afforded a glance of the richness of her mind and of the same time of feeling convinced what a rare treasure you possessed in her. The breakfast in the little house with Snow Harris and Graham, and our being together at Bishopthorpe are still fresh in my memory. I wish it were only my good fortune to see and talk with you oftener and to exchange ideas with you.

Nature has bestowed on you a wonderfully active mind, which takes a lively share in every thing that relates to Science. Many years ago your works imparted to me the highest regard for you which has continually increased as I grew up in years and ripened in judgment and now that I have had the pleasure of making your personal acquaintance and seeing that in your character as a man, you stand as high as you do in Science, a feeling of the greatest affection and esteem has been added to my admiration. You may hence conceive how grateful I am for the proof of friendship which you have given me.

I have every reason to [be] satisfied with my journey in Great Britain, rare proofs of recognition have indeed been given me. What struck me most in England was the perception that only those works which have a practical tendency awake attention and command respect, while the purely scientific, which possess far greater merit are almost unknown. And yet the latter are the proper and true source from which the others flow. Practice alone can never lead to the discovery of a truth or a principle. In Germany it is quite the contrary. Here in the eyes of scientific men, no value, or at least but a trifling one is placed on the practical results. The enrichment of Science is alone considered worthy of attention. I do not mean to say that this is better for both nations the golden medium would certainly be a real good fortune.

The meeting at York which was very interesting to me from the acquaintance of so many celebrated men, did not satisfy me in a scientific point of view[.] It was properly a feast given to the geologists, the other Sciences serving only to decorate the table. The direction, too, taken by the geologists appeared to me singular, for in most of them, even the greatest I found only an empirical Knowledge of Stones and rocks, of some petrefacts and few plants, but no Science. Without a thorough Knowledge of Physics & Chemistry, even without mineralogy a man can be a great geologist in England. I saw a great value laid on the presence of petrifactions and plants in fossils, whilst they either do not know or consider at al[l] the chemical elements of the fossils, those very elements which made them what they are[.]

This letter has already grown too long and truly I fear to weary your patience. I cannot however deny myself the pleasure of expressing a sincere wish to see you and your wife here in Giessen next summer. Did you know how quietly we live at our German Universities, you would certainly expect from your visit only benefit of your health. Except scientific pursuits we have no other excitements of the mind. We take walks in our beautiful green woods and in the evening drink tea at the neighbouring old castles. This is our recreation. I beg of you, dear Faraday to listen to my request, I pray your dear wife to assist me in trying to make you decide on this journey. My wife unites with me in begging this, it would give her the greatest pleasure to make the personal acquaintance of you and your Lady.

Farewell, dear Faraday, preserve to me your friendly favor and believe me with all sincerity to [be]

Yours very truly | Dr Just. Liebig