I was able by referring to the statement to convince him and his friend that if my papers had done him wrong, I at least had endeavoured also to do him right[1].
Believing that I have now said enough to preserve my own "honest fame" from any injury it might have risked from the mistakes of Dr. Davy, I willingly bring this letter to a close, and trust that I shall never again have to address you on the subject.
I am, my dear Sir, yours, &c.,
M. Faraday.
Richard Phillips, Esq., &c. &c.
Change of Musket Balls in Shrapnell Shells[2]
Mr. Marsh of Woolwich gave me some musket balls which had been taken out of Shrapnel shells. The shells had lain in the bottom of ships, and probably had sea-water amongst them. When the bullets are put in, the aperture is merely closed by a common cork. These bullets were variously acted upon: some were affected only superficially, others more deeply, and some were entirely changed. The substance produced is hard and brittle, it splits on the ball, and presents an appearance like some hard varieties of earthy hmmatite; its colour is brown, becoming, when heated, red; it fuses on platinum foil into a yellow flaky substance like litharge. Powdered and boiled in water, no muriatic acid or lead was found in solution. It dissolved in nitric acid without leaving any residuum, and the solution gave very faint indications only of muriatic acid. It is a protoxide of lead, perhaps formed in some way by the galvanic action of the iron shell and the leaden ball, assisted, probably, by the seawater. It would be very interesting to know the state of the shells in which a change like this has taken place to any extent; it might have been expected, that as long as any iron remained, the lead would have been preserved in the metallic state.
