Faraday to Robert Brown   3 March 1846

Royal Institution | 3 March 1846

My dear Sir

In answer to your enquiry respecting Mr. Grove I send you the following as the evidences of his philosophical character¹[.] First the battery called by his name which though it has not perhaps been formally described² is known to every worker in Electricity: it puts into the space of 3 or 4 cubic feet that which at the Royal Institution employed the whole of a large room and because of its power, compactness economy and facility of use is the battery I use to the exclusion of almost every other[.]

Next the Gas Voltaic battery³, a very remarkable discovery & application in reference to the principles of voltaic action and which even promises useful practical results[.]

After these come researches on the inactivity of amalgamated Zinc⁴ - on Electro Nitrurets⁵ - and on the Voltaic action of nonconductors such as Phosphorus Sulphur, & Hydrocarbons⁶ with other smaller things[.]

He has published papers in the Philosophical Transactions of 1840, 1843 and 1845⁷, & is at present on the Council of the Royal Society. He has also published many notices in the Comptes Rendus & the Philosophical magazine[.]

In reply to that part of your enquiry which referred to what I should myself do if responsible & as a mode of conveying my opinion in the present case, I may say that if I were on the Committee⁸ I should, because of the evidence I have just quoted, support his nomination, but I am anxious in saying this that you should not think I am intruding upon the judgment of the Committee[.]

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

Robert Brown Esq | &c &c &c

Address: Robert Brown Esq | &c &c &c | British Museum