John Dickson to Faraday   27 March 1858¹

Sir

I would esteem it as a very great kindness if you would favor me with your opinion on the enclosed paper. “On the cause of Gravity”. I have no apology to offer for the liberty I take, except a strong desire to obtain the opinion of some authority on part of a subject which has occupied the greater part of my leisure hours for many years, and a hope that the contents of the paper may prove not altogether uninteresting to you, as, according to it, the general attraction of matter for matter is a simple and almost obvious consequence of the doctrine of a conservation of force.

In the enclosed the centers of force are supposed to act on each other at a distance by supposing them close to each other another series of phenomena are obtained, as identical with Polarity, as those now described are with Gravity, and by these may be explained in a simple, and as I think in a common sense manner, the principal phenomena of Heat Light and Electricity[.]

Again apologizing for my intrusion²[.]

I very respectfully remain | Sir | Your Most Obedient Servant | J. Dickson

Lea Terrace - Gainsborough | 27 March 1858

To Professor Faraday | London