杏吧原创

鈥淚 am quite well and idling to perfection鈥� are not words you鈥檇 associate with
Michael Faraday in his sixties. He was often sick, and many of the letters in
this, the fourth volume of The Correspondence of Michael Faraday, are
to and from friends who are ailing鈥攖he kind of correspondents who should
under no circumstances be asked how they are for they will tell you in far too
much detail. Faraday lists putrid abscesses among the ailments of his wife and
himself. But do persist, for other letters also appear: on his work for the
Royal Institution, on magnetism and lighthouse lights, his views on atoms,
reading lists and so forth. Isambard Kingdom Brunel asks his advice about
checking the ventilation using smoke and a fan in ready-made rooms for hospitals
designed for export to the East 鈥渘ear the seat of war鈥�. These 886 letters were
written between 1849 and 1855. Edited by Frank James, published by the
Institution of Electrical Engineers, 拢75, ISBN 0863412513