Faraday to Edward William Brayley   10 March 1853

Royal Institution | 10 Mar 1853

My dear Sir

I owe you many thanks for your kindness in sending me the extract from O’Shaughnessy’s¹ report. By degrees the evidence of facts accumulates and I hope we shall before very long be able to form a much better notion of the Electro magnetic or Magneto electric state of our earth than we have at present.

Your kindness in sending me the extract reminds me of a little chat we had once about my title “On the Magnetization of light“. When you told me (what I knew) of the objections of others I held my own & said I was looking a little beyond their views - and I added to the title a note ²[.] If you happen to look at Walker’s³ translation of De la Rive[‘s] recent work on Electricity p522 at the bottom - p.523 and page 524 bottom⁴ where De la Rive is speaking his own mind on the facts, you will see that I have reason to be satisfied.

My lectures after Easter will be very common place & old in matter for I have had no health or strength to construct or devise new matter but such as they may be I send you an order⁵[.]

Ever Truly Yours | M. Faraday

E.W. Brayley Esq | &c &c

Endorsed by Brayley: Answered June 2nd. See p3.

“De la R’s expression, p524⁶, at the last par. “the Phen.” to “action....” “on the manner“ to “the ether“ is exactly equivalent to those in yr. note.”

“It appears to me, however, that the resultant of all yr researches in E. is the establishment or at the least the impossible indication of the existence of the ether”