Royal Institution | 5 June 1849
My very dear friend
I expect to see M. de la Rive in half an hour who afterwards will leave London for Paris and I rejoice in the opportunity (though a hasty one) of acknowledging both your letters & the presents which you sent me by M Eichtal1. I grieved very much for a long time thinking of the unapt and adverse circumstances under which you must as a man of peace order & science have felt yourself oppressed and I thought I knew how far the fine natural tone of your mind would make these things distasteful to you. But now I hope things are better not externally merely but as respects the feelings of mens mind[s] and to hear that you are nominated a Deputy and intend to act in that position makes me think that matters must be righting fast.
Mr. Niepce’s2 result3 which you sent me is beautiful and has excited the admiration of many. It keeps very well for the present but I conclude will not be permanent. The frame also of dyed wood is very beautiful. Surely that must be a valuable result.
M. D’Eichtal is busy in some communications which if I understand him rightly may concern both you and me about Sugar4. From all he says I shall be most happy to be joined in the matter i.e. provided it is necessary here for I am never willing to be the depository of a secret unless there be a necessity. However as he understands the matter thoroughly and will take the trouble of guarding it aright I will leave it all to him to explain. All I can say is that I feel it a great pleasure & a great honor to be joined with you in any thing - or in the smallest matter.
I am greatly behind in Scientific reading & hardly know what is doing - and my encouragement to read is sadly diminished by the daily consciousness that I cannot keep what I read. Still as I know you feel an interest in me let me say that I am pretty well & cheerful & happy in mind.
My wife desires her kindest remembrances to you and Madame Dumas. We often speak of the kindness we received together5 & wonder you could so consent to loan your time and powers idling with us. And now my dear friend with the most earnest wishes for your health & happiness and that of those around you who make your happiness
Believe me to be | Ever | Most truly Yours | M. Faraday
A Monsieur | Monsieur Dumas | &c &c &c
Address: A Monsieur | Monsieur Dumas | Professor | &c &c &c &c | à Paris
GERNSHEIM, Helmut and GERNSHEIM, Alison (1955): The History of Photography from the earliest use of the camera obscura in the eleventh century up to 1914, Oxford.
MELSENS, Louis Henri Fréderic (1849): “Nouveau procédé pour l’extraction du sucre de la canne et de la betterave”, Ann. Chim., 27: 273-310.
Please cite as “Faraday2191,” in Ɛpsilon: The Michael Faraday Collection accessed on 27 April 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/faraday/letters/Faraday2191