Michael Faraday and Robert Bunsen, 1858-60

FARADAY, Michael (1791-1867). Autograph note signed ("M. Faraday") to British botanist Joseph Dalton Hooker, n.p. [Royal Institution], 8 November 1858.

One page, 110 x 178mm., on blind-embossed Royal Institution stationery (light mailing folds, mounting remnants on the verso).

Faraday contributes "all he can spare" to the "Ralfs fund", in support of British botanist John Ralfs. Through the misconduct and betrayal of a close relative, Ralfs lost much of his fortune in the mid-1850s. In an effort to provide him with a basic income, Joseph Dalton Hooker and Thomas Henry Huxley, with the Philosophical Club of the Royal Society, set up a very successful collection shortly thereafter. Charles Darwin, Hooker's closest friend, was one of its foremost patrons.

[With:] BUNSEN, Robert (1811 - 1899). Autograph letter signed ("R.W. Bunsen"), Heidelberg, 27 March 1860.

In German. Two pages, 137 x 214mm. (one chip at bottom edge, reinforced at left edge).

Reserving a space in his laboratory for a visiting researcher. While further context or the recipient of this letter is unknown, this note was sent shortly after Bunsen invented the first spectroscope with Gustav Kirchhoff. His discovery of the element ceasium occurred in the spring of 1860, around the same timeframe that this letter was sent. Sold with a typed translation.