Faraday to James Timmins Chance   18 December 1862¹

London | 18, Decr. 1862

My dear Sir

I thought that the imperfections in the workings & shaping of the large back mirrors had interfered with suggestions of the nature of those contained in your letter of the 13th². Were a reasonably good image of the flame sent back to the space above the burner, the rays forming it, might surely be useful. But with those mirrors which I have seen, the experiment with a candle flame gave a very bad result. I think I tried the mirrors at Whitby, & found a like bad result there. Lamps with such mirrors are said to burn badly and that may well be the case, with a powerful source of heat acting irregularly on one side of the burner and cottons. My impression is that they have been discontinued in different places, in consequence of experience having shown that they produced no good effect: but I have no personal knowledge of the matter.

Ever My dear Sir | Very truly Yours | M. Faraday

Jas. Chance Esq | &c &c &c