Item 32 - James David Forbes to William Whewell

4 pp

Edinburgh - JDF rejoices to hear that WW's book is so well advanced [The History of the Inductive Sciences, from the Earliest to the Present Time, 3 vols, 1837]: 'Does it contain any of the Tabular views which I recollect to have seen in your rooms some time since?' JDF has been thinking a great deal about Stevelly's [John Stevelly?] balloon project announced at the Bristol BAAS meeting: 'I feel so much interest in the prospect of an ascent higher than Gay Lusacs (2300 ft) that I would willingly join personally in any scheme recommended by experienced air-travellers. The Association [BAAS] is more likely to take it up than the R. Society'. JDF notes that Dr Ritchie [William Ritchie?] has brought his notions about the velocity of sound before the Royal Society: 'I thought of the matter a day or two after and immediately perceived the extraordinary fallacy about the difference of velocity as rarefied and condensed waves to which he seems to allude; - the fact is that cold does to a rarefied wave just what heat does to one of condensation'. JDF gives his mixed view on the anemometer. He has recommended to the Council of the Royal Society that WW's friend, Mr Russell [John Scott Russell?] , has his paper on Resistance experiments published. JDF's paper on terrestrial magnetism is ready: George Airy has asked for his opinion on the magnetic system GA proposes at Greenwich.