Dear Sir/
I shall be very happy to witness the curious Phænomena your describe in the flame of Cyanogen at the Institution <1> tomorrow at 4 provided I can get away from an appointment in the City in time – I will in that case meet you there but do’nt wait for me an instant as I do not want to get a worse character with Mr. Faraday than I have already contrived to acquire.
Yours very truly
JFW Herschel
H.F. Talbot Esq
A.8. Albany
Piccadilly
Notes:
1. Several times in May, WHFT and Prof Michael Faraday (1791–1867), scientist, met at the Royal Institution, Albermarle Street, London, to conduct experiments on the spectrum emitted by the flame of cyanogen. This was an extension of WHFT’s work on coloured flames, published as ‘Some Experiments on Coloured Flames’, Edinburgh Journal of Science, v. 5 no. 1, June 1826, pp.77–82.