Professor W. Thomson has asked
me to make him
some magne-crystallic
preparations which I am now busy with. Now, in some of
these
bismuth is required, which is not to be found either in Castle-Douglas
or Dumfries. I have, therefore, thought fit to request you,
and do now request you, during your transit through
Edinburgh
on your way here, to go either to Mr. Kemp's establishment in Infirmary
Street, beside the College, or to some other dealer in metals, and
there
purchase and obtain two ounces of metallic bismuth (called Regulus of
Bismuth),
either powder or lumpish—all one. Thus you may perceive that the end
of this letter is in two ounces of Regulus of Bismuth, that is, the
metal
bismuth, which if you do bring it with you, will please me well. Not
that
I am turned chemist. By no means; but common cook. My fingers are
abominable with glue and chalk, gum and flour, wax and
rosin,
pitch and tallow, black oxide of iron, red ditto and vinegar. By
combining
these ingredients, I strive to please Prof. Thomson, who intends
to submit them to Tyndall and Knoblauch, who, by means of them, are to
discover
the secrets of nature, and the origin of the magne-crystallic forces.
Now, if by coming here you could turn
me from a cook
to a grammarian
by an irresistible influence you would do well; but
if
you remember the way I used to translate at the Academy, distorting the
Latin of Livy to mean what I had preconceived, you will
understand
that at first I had not only to find out what the author meant, but to
become convinced that it could not be what I thought it was.
John Wilson's lectures on Moral
Philosophy do not
improve on reconsideration;
they become indistinct and are resolved into the excellence
of happiness, the acquiredness of conscience, and general good-humour,
philanthropy and . Here is an outline of Abstract Mor. Phil.:—
1. The
principles of the growth of
the mind (that is,
the acquisition of opinions, propensities, and abilities).
2. The principles of government (the
governor suits
his actions to the
laws of the thing governed).
3. The principle of sympathy (sauce
for goose is sauce
for gander).
Out of these heads may one make
something?
As it is bed-time,
and I have to put the glue and oxide of iron into shape to-night, I
must
stop here, and remain in hope of seeing you soon (say when).
