Richard Adie to Faraday   19 February 1851¹

Liverpool 19 February | 1851

Sir

I take the liberty to intrude upon you with a small specimen of a preparation from the acetate of zinc in the hope that it and a brief notice of some of its properties may not be uninteresting to you. The acetate of zinc is ignited on a plate of silver copper or any other convenient metal[.] The residue contains a few darker coloured particles which for magnetic properties are very little inferior to similar portions of iron, with a Common Sheffield magnet they can be drawn along the paper and examined in the microscope, the magnet to be used underneath the paper only[.] Besides zinc I have obtained similar compounds varying in degree from all the heavy metals met with in the arts, that is all I can get to try yeild [sic] particles that will move to a magnet on paper several of them are the partially reduced oxides merely but the more difficult ones tin, silver, mercury, platina, require the Carbon from the decomposition of a vegetable acid to assist them, for bismuth and zinc also a vegetable acid is used but the particles of these two when obtained are strongly attracted when compared with the others.

Perhaps I should mention that the account of these I have submitted to Professor Jameson² in the hope that he may find them worthy of a place in his journal³, indeed it was in making some expts expressly for a paper for him that the fact of so many metals yeilding magnetic products came out. The experiments in question were to show that among bodies of like constitution the darker coloured ones are the most attracted by a magnet, latterly the coralla of flowers promise to give evidence of this fact, at least where they do not contain too much water or odoriferous matter to interfere, for example the pale yellow everlasting flower and the pile most coralla with varnished like surfaces are dia-magnetic, while common gorse and dandelion two similar yellow colours without the glossy surface are attracted freely, save the everlasting flower the others contain their natural quantity of moisture[.]

Yours very respectfully | Richard Adie

Endorsed by Faraday: The particles contained Iron. On digesting the grey powder in pure dilute MA the zinc deposited & left a few black particles & a little black powder - this well washed & digested in strong ether acid - dissolved in part forming a yellow solution as if iron & this being diluted & tested by ferro-pruss potash gave prussian blue.

22 Feby 1851 MF

Wrote Mr Adie word on the Monday 24th