William Bird Herapath1 to Faraday   February 18572

P.S.

My Dear Sir,

There is a little misunderstanding about the dates I spoke of - 1844 refers to my diploma as a Member of the College of Surgeons[.] 1854 refers to the date of the Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh neither of these therefore belong really to the certificate itself-

The former date appears invidious to me as it would mark me out a younger man than I am having entered very late into the profession in consequence of my having spent many years in my fathers3 Chemical Laboratory as his assistant Lecturer &c - Now I fancied it would be better to leave out that 1844 especially - but if this cannot be done of course there is an end of it -

The other is by no means objectionable but I certainly do not see any other medical mans name with the date of his diploma as a physician or Surgeon attached to his Royal Society Certificate -

I applied to the Royal Society for admission in 1853 - and I presume that is the date attached to my certificate - to which Mr Weld alludes as being unable to interfere with4 -

I remain | My Dear Sir | Yours very sincerely | obliged | W. Bird Herapath

Professor Faraday | F.R.S.

1
William Bird Herapath (1820-1868, ODNB). Bristol physician and chemist.
2
Dated on the basis that Faraday wrote letter 3238 shortly after receiving this.
3
William Bird Herapath (1820-1868, ODNB). Bristol physician and chemist.
4
Herapath was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1859. Faraday nominated him from personal knowledge. RS MS Cert 9.424.

Please cite as “Faraday3237,” in Ɛpsilon: The Michael Faraday Collection accessed on 27 April 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/faraday/letters/Faraday3237