Pièce 100 - James David Forbes to William Whewell

4 pp

Edinburgh - Could WW send Professor Jameson 'a complete and authentic copy of the lecture delivered by you at the Society of Arts for publication in his journal now in the press' ['The General Bearing of the Great Exhibition of the Progress of Art and Science', 1850]. JDF took a second trip to London 'to make a more careful study of parts of the exhibition and to endeavour to procure some modest instruments for my collection in connection with my lectures'. This proved very difficult as 'the better class of exhibitors' did not want to part with them. However, Mr Biddell (a cousin of Mr Airy's), was in charge of the machinery department and in the end he was able to procure 'more than I could have hoped for the college nearly £200 worth of apparatus, chiefly models of machinery and engineering matter'. The Norwegian glaciers are very similar to the ones in Switzerland. 'We have got a favourable part of a committee of the H. of Commons on the urgency of the trigonometrical survey of Scotland. we are now opening a battery to press for the geological survey'.