Item 142 - James David Forbes to William Whewell

4 pp

Edinburgh - JDF has 'frittered away' the summer and has now returned to St. Andrew's for the winter. He read 'Arago's posthumous writings on Photometry and I do not think highly of them'. His chief reason for writing 'is to ask whether I can find anywhere in print the formalities used in your University' ceremonies. He was not at the BAAS meeting at Manchester: 'It seems to have been organized on too gigantic a scale'. George Airy's lecture on the ecliptic was presumably the 'chief novelty: but so far as one can judge from abstracts the results are just what we already knew'. William Hopkins '(who is now to be general secretary) could not let glacier theories alone; but has carefully abstained from printing forth any abstract'. JDF 'visited William Thomson at his place in Arran. He is still fearfullly lame'.