Letter to George F. Fitzgerald from Sir Oliver Lodge
Title
Letter to George F. Fitzgerald from Sir Oliver Lodge
Creator
Date
Identifier
GFF 2/68
Description
Handwritten letter from Sir Oliver Lodge, Victoria University, Liverpool, to George F. Fitzgerald, dated 22 November 1899. Lodge states in his letter that he does not want responsibility for Dr Galt's report. 2pp.
Transcription:
"My dear Fitzgerald,
With regard to that report of Dr Galt in in the British Association volume which is now very shortly going to press. I feel that it ought to have been submitted to the committee before sending in, and I am not inclined to make myself responsible for it. Dr Gladstone is going to add a note to say that he has tested the solutions formed by dissolving (a) the alloy (b) the mixture in nitric acid, and has found the resulting solutions not to be the same. Lord Kelvin replied that nevertheless if these solutions are mixed, no appreciable heat is evolved, and perhaps this is a complete answer, but I do not feel sure, and in any case I do not feel inclined to make myself responsible for Dr Galt's report, though at the same time similar experiments have been made by a Mr Baker of Birmingham with rather similar results; hence I must assume, and I am willing to assume that the experiments were carefully performed. In neither case however I am clear about what happened to the gaseous products. I rather think that Baker allowed them to escape, and what Galt did with them, I do not think he says. I think the best plan is for me to send you a copy of the note proposed to be added by Dr Gladstone and also to send you a note that we might add if we thought fit. No time must be lost, as Griffith is anxious to go to press.
Yours
OJL"
Transcription:
"My dear Fitzgerald,
With regard to that report of Dr Galt in in the British Association volume which is now very shortly going to press. I feel that it ought to have been submitted to the committee before sending in, and I am not inclined to make myself responsible for it. Dr Gladstone is going to add a note to say that he has tested the solutions formed by dissolving (a) the alloy (b) the mixture in nitric acid, and has found the resulting solutions not to be the same. Lord Kelvin replied that nevertheless if these solutions are mixed, no appreciable heat is evolved, and perhaps this is a complete answer, but I do not feel sure, and in any case I do not feel inclined to make myself responsible for Dr Galt's report, though at the same time similar experiments have been made by a Mr Baker of Birmingham with rather similar results; hence I must assume, and I am willing to assume that the experiments were carefully performed. In neither case however I am clear about what happened to the gaseous products. I rather think that Baker allowed them to escape, and what Galt did with them, I do not think he says. I think the best plan is for me to send you a copy of the note proposed to be added by Dr Gladstone and also to send you a note that we might add if we thought fit. No time must be lost, as Griffith is anxious to go to press.
Yours
OJL"
Source
RDS Library & Archives GFF collection of letters
Rights
Copyright RDS Library & Archives. Publication, transmission or display is prohibited without formal written approval of the RDS Library & Archives.
Relation
RDS Science Archive
Format
Manuscript
Language
English
Type
Coverage
1870-1901
Collection
Citation
Lodge, Oliver, Sir, 1851-1940, “Letter to George F. Fitzgerald from Sir Oliver Lodge,” RDS Digital Archive, accessed December 5, 2025, https://digitalarchive.rds.ie/items/show/1328.