Dear Sir,
Your advice, I should willingly follow were it practical, even with the sacrifice of the strong personal feeling which has surrounded the case.
I have not in readiness as you take for granted my Paper on the Polarisation of the Atmosphere <1>. My observations, for the purpose of fixing position[s] for constants in the Formula are not completed, & pure blue skies, a most unusual commodity here are necessary for the purpose.
On the principle that a body has neither conscience nor feeling and will do what no individual dares to do, the Committee of the R.S <2> could easily order the printing of my paper without acknowledging that they were in Error. The ample & I trust substantial reasons which I have assigned for not agreeing to the terms proposed would form a sufficient excuse. They might even say, we had no idea that you would consider the rejection of your Paper in the light which you have done, & rather than give you personal offence we will print it. I do not ask them, and do not even desire that they shd do this. I am now content with their decision, and after appealing to the Society and the Public will do nothing more.
If I yield on this occasion my next Papers will receive similar treatment, and I shall probably be thus drawn into that state of annoyance which will make me abandon Science altogether, tho’ I hope this will not be the result.
When I can get my Paper published in the Edin or Dublin Transactions <3> why should I expose myself to the repetition of what I have already suffered. I beg you will excuse me for plaguing you so much on a subject so personal. I intend to ask Lord Brougham <4> to bring the matter before the R.S. on the 30th Novr after he has perused the Correspondence, and I shall then write a 2d Volume on the Decline of Science. <5>
I enclose three of Dr Adamsons <6> Talbotypes. <7> In the negative one you will see a woe-begone figure on the right which is myself. The one of Dr A. <8> is fixed in a solution of Salt 1 part of Saturated solution to 3 of water. The one of Capt P. <9> is fixed by Bromide of Potassium. Dr Adamson dilutes your mixture of Acetic & Gallo-Nitrate Acids with an equal quantity of water and does not again dip the Paper in Water. This is perhaps the same thing in effect as using a stronger solution & reducing it in the Paper by immersion in water. But Dr A. cannot succeed by using this part of your Process. Mr Furlong <10> has come to the same conclusion, & he cannot fix the positive Impression. Pray what is the size of your Camera, of the object Glass & of the Stop?
Major Playfair <11> tried your Process <12> today without Sun. His objects were 6 similar Stucco Casts, which were successively removed after 1½, 2, 2½, 3, 3½ and 4 minutes. No effect was produced on any but the last, & that very faint. He is so ardent in the matter, that if he was sure of finding you in London he would go up on purpose to consult you.
I am Dear Sir, Ever Most Faithfully yrs
D Brewster
St Leonards
St Andrews
Novr 10th 1841
H.F. Talbot Esqr
Notes:
1. A paper on this subject was eventually published six years later [but not in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London]: D. Brewster, ‘On the polarisation of the atmosphere’, Philosophical Magazine, v. 31, 1847, pp. 444–54.
2. Royal Society of London. For Brewster’s dispute with the Committee see Doc. No: 04291 and Doc. No: 04355.
3. Transaction of the Royal Society of Edinburgh and of the Royal Irish Academy, which published a paper of Brewster’s in 1843. It was to be 1860 before he published another paper in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London.
4. Henry Peter Brougham, Baron of Brougham & Voux (1778–1868), Lord Chancellor.
5. See Doc. No: 04291.
6. Dr John Adamson (1809–1870), physician and pioneer of photography. See A. D. Morrison-Low, ‘Dr John Adamson and Robert Adamson: An Early Partnership in Scottish Photography’, The Photographic Collector, v. 2, 1983, pp. 198–214.
7. Brewster insisted on using the honorific term recognising the inventor, but WHFT himself shunned this and stayed with the calotype.
8. A salt-print labelled ‘Dr Adamson’, formerly in WHFT’s collection, is now in a private collection.
9. This is possibly the partial print [lower border restored by hand in ink], once in WHFT’s collection, now in the collection of the Royal Photographic Society [B06]. Verso, ink inscriptions ‘Dr Adamson’ and ‘fixed by Bromine’, and a pencil inscription ‘fixed by washing in water & then brushing with the solution of Bromide of Potassium’. See also Doc. No: 04460 for a print by Adamson sent to WHFT by Brewster.
10. William Holland Furlonge, sometimes William Holland Furlong (1826-1881), Irish born chemist, photographer and Assyriologist. [See Doc. No: 04349].
11. Sir Hugh Lyon Playfair (1786–1861), military & provost of St Andrew’s University.
12. The Calotype.