XVII 



stand aright, I am charged (1) with not acknowledging the information I 

 received in assisting Sir H. Davy in his experiments on this subject ; (2) 

 with concealing the theory and views of Dr. Wollaston ; (3) with taking 

 the subject whilst Dr. Wollaston was at work on it ; and (4) with disho- 

 nourably taking Dr. Wollaston' s thoughts, and pursuing them without 

 acknowledgment to the results I have brought out. 



" There is something degrading about the whole of these charges ; and 

 were the last of them true, I feel that I should not remain on the terms I 

 now stand at with you or any scientific person. Nor can I indeed bear to 

 remain suspected of such a thing. My love for scientific reputation is not 

 yet so high as to induce me to obtain it at the expense of honour, and 

 my anxiety to clear away this stigma is such, that I do not hesitate to 

 trouble you, even beyond what you mav be willing to do for me." 



He proceeds then to justify himself, and says, " The cause of my making 

 the experiments detailed in my paper, was the writing of the historical 

 Sketch of Electromagnetism that has appeared in the last two Numbers of 

 the ( Annals of Philosophy.' " 



On the 30th of October he writes directly to Dr. Wollaston, saying : — 

 " I heard from two or three quarters that it was considered that I had not 

 behaved honourably, and that the wrong I had done I had done to you ; I 

 immediately wished and endeavoured to see you, but was prevented by the 

 advice of my friends, and am only now at liberty to pursue the plan I in- 

 tended to have taken at first. 



" If I have done any one wrong it was quite unintentional, and the 

 charge of behaving dishonourably is not true. I am bold enough, sir, to 

 beg the favour of a few minutes' conversation with you on this subject, 

 simply for these reasons, that I can clear myself, that I owe obligations to 

 you, that I respect you, that I am anxious to escape from unfounded 

 impressions against me, and, if I have done any wrong, that I may apolo- 

 gise for it." 



The following day Dr. Wollaston writes : — " You seem to me to labour 

 under some misapprehension of the strength of my feelings upon the sub- 

 ject to which you allude. As to the opinions which others may have of 

 your conduct, that is your concern, not mine ; and if you fully acquit your- 

 self of making any incorrect use of the suggestions of others, it seems to me 

 that you have no occasion to trouble yourself much about the matter. But 

 if you are desirous of any conversation with me, and could with conveni- 

 ence call to-morrow morning between ten and half-past ten, you will be sure 

 to find me." 



In a letter to M. G. De la Rive a fortnight later, he does not allude to 

 the distress of mind he had gone through. 



On Christmas Day lie succeeded in making a wire through which a 

 current of voltaic electricity was passing obey the magnetic poles of the 

 earth in the way it does the poles of a bar-magnet. 



Mr. George Barnard, who was with him in the laboratory at the time, 



VOL. XVII. b 



