850 Mr. J. E. Teschemacher on the 



consideration, by the circumstances of the Evening on which 

 I had to appear suddenly and occupy the place of another. 

 Now that I have put them on paper, I feel that I ought to 

 have kept them much longer for study, consideration, and, 

 perhaps, final rejection ; and it is only because they are sure 

 to go abroad in one way or another, in consequence of their 

 utterance on that evening, that I give them a shape, if shape 

 it may be called, in this reply to your inquiry. One thing is 

 certain, that any hypothetical view of radiation which is likely 

 to be received or retained as satisfactory, must not much 

 longer comprehend alone certain phenomena of light, but 

 must include those of heat and of actinic influence also, and 

 even the conjoined phaenomena of sensible heat and che- 

 mical power produced by them. In this respect, a view, 

 which is in some degree founded upon the ordinary forces of 

 matter, may perhaps find a little consideration amongst the 

 other views that will probably arise. I think it likely that I 

 have made many mistakes in the preceding pages, for even to 

 myself, my ideas on this point appear only as the shadow of 

 a speculation, or as one of those impressions on the mind 

 which are allowable for a time as guides to thought and re- 

 search. He who labours in experimental inquiries knows how 

 numerous these are, and how often their apparent fitness and 

 beauty vanish before the progress and development of real 

 natural truth. 



I am, my dear Phillips, 



Ever truly yours, 

 Royal Institution, April 15, 1846. M. FARADAY. 



LV. On the Wax of the Chamarops. 

 By J. E. Teschemacher, Esq.* 



A BOUT three millions of palm leaves are annually imported 

 -**■ into the United States of America, for the purpose of 

 being manufactured into hats. They come tied in bundles, 

 called in Spanish Esteras, each estera weighing from 50 to 60 

 pounds ; these are the palmate part of the leaf with a small 

 portion of the petiole ; this last weighs one-eighth of the leaf. 

 The palm from which the leaves are cut in Cuba and other 

 parts of the West Indies for this purpose is a Chamaerops, a 

 low-growing species, not differing I believe from the C. hu- 

 milis of the southern sections of the United States, except in 

 being much more robust in habit. The C. humilis of the 

 United States is too soft and yielding for this manufacture. 



* Communicated by the Chemical Society; having been read December 

 1, 1845. 



