Faraday to William Vernon Harcourt1   9 January 18512

R Institution | 9 Jany. 1850 [sic]

My dear Sir

Thank you for your kindness[.] I am in hopes you will not think it less fitly bestowed at the end of the year than the beginning for I have full confidence at present in the deductions which are drawn from the new facts regarding oxygen & gases. Space being my zero. My present means of measuring gave me Nitrogen at zero so that a mixture of oxygen & nitrogen never can arrive at zero. Then as to compounds, of Oxygen & Nitrogen, Nitrous oxide appears to be at zero - Nitrous acid is Magnetic - Nitric oxide perhaps so. A better apparatus is in the course of construction which will settle all these points minutely. Chlorine & Bromine appear to be close to zero[.]

Oxygen in combining generally loses all its power. Carbonic acid is close to zero - Per oxide of Iron is scarcely magnetic. Per oxide of Lead & many other things is diamagenetic[.]

In haste | but Ever Truly Yours | M. Faraday

Revd. W.V. Harcourt | &c &c &c

1
William Vernon Harcourt (1789-1871, DNB). One of the founders of the British Association. Rector of Bolton Percy, 1837-1861.
2
Dated on the basis that this is the reply to letter 2368.

Please cite as “Faraday2369,” in Ɛpsilon: The Michael Faraday Collection accessed on 28 April 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/faraday/letters/Faraday2369