Ɛpsilon

George Biddell Airy to Faraday   12 November 1862

1862 November 12

My dear Sir

I send by Post a little paper of Lamont’s1 on Vapour2.

But I write to ask this. Suppose that a ship’s lightning-conductor has a good sharpened point above every thing else, and good communication to the water, and receive no shock, but a constant current. Then:-

<3> If a human being formed part of the channel of communication, would he feel the current in any way?

<4>. Is there any kind of electrometer attachable to the lower parts of the conductor which will shew that a current is passing?

I am, my dear Sir, | Yours very truly | G.B. Airy

Professor Faraday

1
Johann von Lamont (1805–1879, DSB). Director of Bogenhausen Observatory from 1835 and Professor of Astronomy at Munich from 1852.
2
Lamont (1862) with a brief introduction by Airy on p.350.
3
Johann von Lamont (1805–1879, DSB). Director of Bogenhausen Observatory from 1835 and Professor of Astronomy at Munich from 1852.
4
Lamont (1862) with a brief introduction by Airy on p.350.

Bibliography

LAMONT, Johann von (1862): “Dalton’s Theory of Vapour, and its Application to the Aqueous Vapour of the Atmosphere”, Phil. Mag., 24: 350-8.

Please cite as “Faraday4251,” in Ɛpsilon: The Michael Faraday Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/faraday/letters/Faraday4251