To Thomas Archer Hirst   13th July 1855

Hotel Manchester | Rue de Grammont N^o 1. | 13^th July 1855

My dear Tom

I have written to you¹ since you wrote to me, I now write to you again and thus make you twice my debtor: My time is filled in Paris. Nearly every day Wertheim,² Wartmann and myself peregrinate among the philosophical instruments,³ and sometimes at the day’s end the whole of us feel greatly fagged. Today is a holiday for some of our group, otherwise I should not have time to write to you – Paris is always gay, but gay beyond the average at present, and night after night the tide of life swings and murmurs on the Boulevards and in the Palais Royale.⁴ I usually dine there: Wartmann and I are pretty constant companions, and I find in him a man with whom it is pleasant to converse: we ramble together and pay visits together. Wheatstone is usually with us in the evening – and thus we constitute a trio who manage to spend their spare time together in pleasant amity. Any English juror who wishes will be presented to the Emperor⁵ by Lord Cowley⁶ the English Ambassador. I should like to see the man, but this liking will scarcely tempt me to go through the form of a presentation. The Prince Napoleon⁷ gives a soirée every Saturday evening, and thither the jurors repair in considerable numbers: I have an invitation for the Saturdays of July and intend to go there tomorrow. The Sunday which followed the arrival of Debus and myself we spent together at St Cloud. Last Sunday Wheatstone Wartmann and myself spent at Versailles and saw the grandes eaux.⁸ I had an invitation to tea on Wednesday evening from Mr Denison⁹ and Mr Labouchere¹⁰ although I had never spoken to the latter and had only exchanged a word or two with the former in the jury room. Sir David Brewster, Sir W^m Hooker, Sir Geo. Clarke,¹¹ Wheatstone, Prof. Willis¹² and myself were the guests, and we spent a pleasant rational evening together. You know Brewster & Wheatstone are at war to the knife regarding the stereoscope.¹³ I contrived to get between them at tea and thus relieved them from an unpleasant proximity to each other. I am of course on good terms with both of them. The official offer of the examinership¹⁴ of candidates for the Royal Artillery and Royal Engineers reached me yesterday, and I have written back accepting it¹⁵ – The examination takes places in the Hall of King’s College London on the 1^st of August next so that I must be at home at the end of this month. I do not know whether the post is likely to be a permanent one: the word ‘examinership’ was used in the official letter. I have seen John Martin several times but as yet have had no opportunity of dining with him; for this he is more to blame than I am, for I made an appointment with him a few days ago and he was so far behind time that I accepted the proposal of Wheatstone who chanced to pass me at the time to dine with him. Last night I was at Duboscq’s. He had Brewster, Amici,¹⁶ Steinheil, Ettingshausen, Moigno,¹⁷ Wheatstone, and others. He went through his usual experiments with the electric light. Tonight Wheatstone Wartmann and myself go to Le comte de Moncel¹⁸ who has been lately experimenting with Ruhmkorff’s coil and who is to shew us his experiments. I wish either that you had sent me those letters you left at Chadwell Street, or that you had left them at the Institution: I have written to Mrs Whitehouse¹⁹ about them but as yet have heard nothing of them. In a note sent to Francis yesterday I again alluded to them and hope he will make some enquiry about them. I wish you would write to Francis on the subject and say to him at the same time that I should be obliged if he would send me some separate copies of my paper direct. On last Monday I was at the Institute²⁰ and old Biot kindly placed me in the centre whence as he said I could observe ‘les personnages’.²¹ Regnault was president – one incident occurred which I dont understand – The Prince of Canino the Emperor’s Cousin²² was called upon by his usual title – he replied ‘Le Prince de Canino n’est pas ici. Monsieur Bonaparte s’il vous plait’. Thenard was there and was the object of general sympathy as he has recently lost his son. LeVerrier, Becquerel,²³ Despretz, Cauchy²⁴ and others were there – I noticed one man with a frank open countenance who spoke with many present: when the meeting was breaking up. I found him at my side and he requested Wheatstone introduce us to each other: It was DelaRive: I felt great pleasure indeed in making his acquaintance. Foucault I have also seen – he has his pendulum swinging in the Exhibition:²⁵ the ball is of iron and an electromagnet is placed in the position of equilibrium. This pulls the ball downwards and at the moment the ball passes the centre the magnetism ceases. In this way he is able to prolong the oscillations indefinitely. I had a cosy old bachelor’s dinner once with Despretz, and a quiet ramble afterwards. My health still continues very good, but I should like much to escape for a fortnight to the country. The day is hot and my head is not in the letter writing phase – so you must be content with the dish of incongruous gossip which I here lay before you. I am beginning to yearn for my magnets, the year has been sadly broken into already but I must not complain for the time has not been lost. Remember me affectionately to Anna Good bye

As ever | John

RI MS JT/1/T/606