TO LEWIS CAMPBELL,
Esq.
Since
last letter, I have made some pairs of
diagrams representing
solid figures and curves drawn in space; of these
pictures
one is seen with each eye by means of mirrors, thus . . .
This is Wheatstone's Stereoscope,
which Sir David
Brewster has taken
up of late with much violence at the Brightish
Association.
(The violence consists in making two lenses out of one by breaking it).
(See Report). Last winter he exhibited at the
Scottish
Society of Arts Calotype pictures of the statue of Ariadne and
the
beast seen from two stations, which, when viewed properly,
appeared very solid.
Since then I have been doing
practical props on
compression, and
writing out the same that there may be no mistake. The
nicest
cases are those of spheres and cylinders. I have got an expression for
the hardness of a cricket ball made of case and
stuffing.
I have also the equations for a spherical cavity in an infinite solid,
and this prop: Given that the polarised colour of any part
of a cylinder of unannealed glass is equal to the square of
the
distance from the centre (as determined by observation), to find—1st,
the
state of strain at each point; 2d, the
temperature of each.
· · ·
I have got an observation of the
latitude just now
with a saucer of
treacle, but it is very windy.
Pray excuse this wickedly perplexed
letter as an
effect of the paucity
of our communications. If you would sharpen me a little it
would be acceptable, but when there is nobody to speak to one [loses]
the
gift of speech. . . .