[Letter to George F. Fitzgerald from W. G. Bond],
Title
[Letter to George F. Fitzgerald from W. G. Bond],
Creator
Date
Identifier
GFF 15/44
Description
Handwritten letter from W. G. Bond on "The Electrician" stationary, Salisbury Court, Fleet Street, E.C. London, to George F. Fitzgerald, dated 8 May 1897. Bond discusses the recent work of J.J. Thomson on the atom as divisible. 2pp.
Transcript:
Dear Prof Fitzgerald.
I have asked the printers to send you an early proof (unrevised) of the Friday Evening Discourse delivered by Prof J.J. Thomson on the 30th. I hope to publish it in the next issue, if I can get the necessary illustrations in good time.
My reason for sending it to you is the hope that you may feel inspired, thusly, to write "The Electrician" either a leading article or a signed article of any length you deem fit up to say four columns.
You will observe that Prof J.J. Thomson gets out of several little difficulties connected with the "radiant matter" hypothesis by the assumption the atom, hitherto thought to be "one & indivisible" at least by the average perpetrator of text-books, is on the contrary infinitely divisible. This idea he works out very prettily and it helps one over several obstacles to a true faith in regard to Zeeman.
I am aware that Prof Thomson is not the first to propose this hypothesis, but I cannot help thinking that a lucid explanaion of the experimental basis for this revolutionary "s[?] way" with difficulties and the new difficulties (if any) into which the hypothesis may be expected to land us, would be very timely just now. What do you say?
If you feel like writing and want a little more time, I would hold over Prof. Thomson's lecture until our issue of May 21st.
Your's very truely,
W.G. Bond
P.S. our usual rate of renumerations is 1 of per column, but I should be proud to leve the length of the length of the article largely to you and to make the fee two guineas.
Transcript:
Dear Prof Fitzgerald.
I have asked the printers to send you an early proof (unrevised) of the Friday Evening Discourse delivered by Prof J.J. Thomson on the 30th. I hope to publish it in the next issue, if I can get the necessary illustrations in good time.
My reason for sending it to you is the hope that you may feel inspired, thusly, to write "The Electrician" either a leading article or a signed article of any length you deem fit up to say four columns.
You will observe that Prof J.J. Thomson gets out of several little difficulties connected with the "radiant matter" hypothesis by the assumption the atom, hitherto thought to be "one & indivisible" at least by the average perpetrator of text-books, is on the contrary infinitely divisible. This idea he works out very prettily and it helps one over several obstacles to a true faith in regard to Zeeman.
I am aware that Prof Thomson is not the first to propose this hypothesis, but I cannot help thinking that a lucid explanaion of the experimental basis for this revolutionary "s[?] way" with difficulties and the new difficulties (if any) into which the hypothesis may be expected to land us, would be very timely just now. What do you say?
If you feel like writing and want a little more time, I would hold over Prof. Thomson's lecture until our issue of May 21st.
Your's very truely,
W.G. Bond
P.S. our usual rate of renumerations is 1 of per column, but I should be proud to leve the length of the length of the article largely to you and to make the fee two guineas.
Source
RDS Library & Archives GFF collection of letters
Contributor
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
Bond, W. G., “[Letter to George F. Fitzgerald from W. G. Bond],,” RDS Digital Archive, accessed May 14, 2025, https://digitalarchive.rds.ie/items/show/985.