154

Faraday to Schoenbein.

R. Institute 5 March 1846.My dear Schoenbein

Excuse my sending you a very short lettcr, butI am just now burdened with business and thought and myhead oftcn aches. — I rcceived your letter thc day beforeyesterday and sent it at once with the spccimcns to Mr. Dicken-son one of our largest paper makers (whom I slightly know)and desircd him, if the result interested him, to communicate atonce with you. Of course I have not as yet had time to hearany thing, [even] if he should think of writing to nie.

I did not cxaminc your paper' but scnt it off at once.It remindcd nie of some that I had seen somc ycars ago, inwhich the paper had been passed through a clcan infusion oftannin and so had its gelatinc size converted into leather.That process at onc time looked very promising, and I do notknow, why it was not pursued, cxcept it was because, soon after,gclatine was to a great cxtcnt dismissed as thc sizing material,and resin and oil in thc form of soap, decomposed by alum,substituted for it.

I should be glad to send you a copy of my last papersbut our Royal Society is very slow and I scc many dcscriptionsof results obtained in France, Italy and elscwhcre — all of whichare in my papers of last year — but which have been reob-tained by those who have worked on thc noticcs.

I am also puzzled about the best way of sending them toyou with certainty.

Our best thanks and remembrances to Mrs. Schcenbein and

her flock „

Fver Y ours

M. Faraday.

1 Schoenbein also sent specimens of his paper to Poggendorff who suggestsemploying it for making window panes, and writes as follows (May 1, 1846) "Das