MEMOIR OF DANIEL TREADWELL. 385 



To Mrs. Treadwell. 



London, April 10, 1835. 

 . . . You perceive that I am yet in this every way wonderful city. I remember heretofore 

 having spoken slightingly of the practice of describing the country through which one passes 

 on a journey, " of babbling of green fields," and therefore I shall not babble of smoky houses ; 

 but I cannot forbear the remark, that after one has passed for miles and miles through tlie 

 streets of London, and seen ranges of buildings covered in many jilaces (even some of the 

 most obscure) with elaborate ornaments of architecture, and nuirkcd the ships, the docks, 

 the bridges, and all the merchandise collected in warehouses or moving from place to place, 

 he cannot but wonder, wlien he considers how little a single man can produce, that men enough 

 have ever existed to have produced so much. It may be taken as a fair estimate, that to con- 

 struct the docks alone it required a labor equal at least to that of a thousand men working a 

 hundred years. This includes the warehouses and buildings belonging to the dock companies. 

 I am constantly on the alert to see and hear all that may be found, and I receive many facilities 

 from those to whom I have become known ; amongst others, I cannot express too strongly my 

 obligations to Mr. William Vaughan, an old gentleman of eighty, the brother of Mr. Vaughan of 

 Hallowell, and Mr. Petty Vaughan, his nephew, to whom I had a letter from Dr. Bigelow. Mr. 

 William Vaughan is constantly casting round to see what he can do for mo, and being a member 

 of all the prominent societies, amongst others of the Royal Society, he is aljle to show me a great 

 many men and things. I have heard lectures at the Royal Institution from Dr. Richie, Mi-. 

 Brande, and Dr. Lardncr, all of which were excellent. Dr. Richie's was upon electricity. The 

 experiments were not numerous, but all to the purpose, eitlier as illustrating some theory or 

 as displaying some fact which it was necessary to explain or connect with some theory. Mr. 

 Brando's was upon the laws of animal and vegetable chemistry, of which he gave a general, but 

 very clear and philosophical view. He is not popular, being considered past his time, and being 

 entirely outdone by Faraday, who is said to be the best lecturer in London. I spoke in my 

 letter to Dr. Ware of his manner and appearance. Since then I have met him again at tlie 

 Royal Institution, and was further confirmed in my high idea of his powers. He is quick in liis 

 conceptions, and at the same time clear, deep, and accurate, and all his ra])idity is calm and 

 without flutter. Dr. Lardner lectured on Halley's comet, the approach of which to the earth 

 is exciting considerable attention here. The philosophers are anxious to see the calculations 

 verified by it, and it is said the canaille arc anxious, as they expect it will bring some terrible 

 disease or calamity. Lardner's lecture was a perspicuous account of comets and tlicir laws of 

 motion. It was learned, and at the same time simple, — "deep, though clear." You see by 

 this I am capable of being excited to praise ; indeed, these men come up to my notions of 

 what lecturing should be ; but then tliey are the crack lecturers of all London. 



To Dr. John Ware. 



April 22, 1835. 

 ... In my last letter to you I promised to write particularly of Babbage's calculating 

 machine. I thought tliat, on seeing it again, I might undertake to give you an idea of it, but 

 I find that it would be impossible, as I have not seen it long enough to gain a thorough and 

 clear knowledge of it myself. It is thirteen years since Mr. Babbage commenced making the 

 drawings for it, and the calculating part of the machine now built does not extend to more 



