WCP3439

Letter (WCP3439.2926)

[1]

20, Mornington Road,

London, N.W.

March 14 /80

Dear Mr Wallace,

The enclosed curious letter has just reached me and on the envelope your name being most prominent I send it on to you.

The style in which the communication signed "Faraday"1 is written is totally unlike Faraday’s style which was very [2] characteristic. There is really not an original idea in the whole letter and it would have been impossible for Faraday to have written a quarter as much without saying something immensely worth remembering.

The photograph is a very good one of Faraday but I seem to recognise in it a well known picture of him and after the exposure of so many frauds it behoves me to be doubly cautious.

I am on the point of [3] starting for Ireland where I expect to remain to be for a week.

Mrs Crookes2 joins me in kind regards to yourself & Mrs Wallace,3 hoping your family are all well[.]

Believe me | very sincerely yours | William Crookes4 [signature]

Faraday, Michael (1791-1867). British scientist who discovered the principles underlying electromagnetic induction and electrolysis. Fullerian Professor of Chemistry at the Royal Institution, London 1833-67 and Superintendent of the House at the Royal Institution 1852-67.
Crookes (née Humphrey), Ellen Augusta (1835-1916). Wife of William Crookes (1832-1919).
Wallace (née Mitten), Annie (1846-1914). British. Wife of ARW; daughter of William Mitten.
Crookes, William (1832-1919). British chemist, physicist, science journalist, and spiritualist. Secretary of the Royal Institution.

Please cite as “WCP3439,” in Beccaloni, G. W. (ed.), Ɛpsilon: The Alfred Russel Wallace Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/wallace/letters/WCP3439