<qr>Private | [Royal Institution embossed letterhead] | 17 April 1856
My dear Sir
The subject of life is one that I do not profess to have any knowledge of or judgment upon and as an F.R.S. is supposed to be responsible in some degree for any paper he may present so I find myself unable to present the paper2. Also if I mistake not the paper is of that hypothetical character as to render it unfit for the R.S.; so when I have any hypothetical matter to put forth as for instance on the possible physical character of the lines of magnetic force, I send it to the Philosophical Magazine3 not because I do not think it good matter but because I suppose it is not real enough for the Royal Society[.]
Some of the expressions at pp 12. 13 are rather loose[.] Electricity never passes freely along a wire however small the quantity sent there is always a resistance a proportionate resistance &c &c[.]
Ever My dear Sir | Very Truly Yours | M. Faraday
Joseph Toynbee Esqr | &c &c &c
FARADAY, Michael (1852d): “On the Physical Character of the Lines of Magnetic Force”, Phil. Mag., 3: 401-28.
Please cite as “Faraday3122,” in Ɛpsilon: The Michael Faraday Collection accessed on 27 April 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/faraday/letters/Faraday3122