out the remarkable difference between that result and those which are the subject of this and the other papers referred to. Mr. Perkins informed me that the air upon compression disappeared, and in its place was a small quantity of a fluid, which remained so when the pressure was removed, had little or no taste, and did not act on the skin. As far as I could by inquiry make out its nature, it resembled water; but if upon repetition it be found really to be the product of compressed common air, then its fixed nature shows it to be a result of a very different kind to those mentioned above, and necessarily attended by far more important consequences.
My Dear Sir,
I Have just concluded looking over Dr. Davy's Life of his brother Sir Humphry Davy. In it, between pages 160 and 164 of the second volume, the author links together some account, with observations, of the discovery of electro-magnetic rotation, and that of the condensation of the gase, concluding at page 164 with these words: "I am surprised that Mr. Faraday has not come forward to do him [Sir Humphry Davy] justice. As I view the matter, it appears hardly less necessary to his own honest fame than his acknowledgement to Dr. Wollaston, on the subject of the first idea of the rotatory magnetic motion."
I regret that Dr. Davy by saying this has made that necessary which I did not before think so; but I feel that I cannot after his observation indulge my earnest desire to be silent on the matter without incurring the risk of being charged with something opposed to an honest character. This I dare not risk; but in answering for myself, I trust it will be understood that I have been driven unwillingly into utterance.
[The next three pages of this paper which refer to the electro-magnetic rotation have appeared in vol. ii. at p. 229, &c. of ' Experimental Researches in Electricity, ' 8vo edition.
- ↑ Philosophical Magazine, 1836, vol. viii p. 521.
