| RefNo | MS/242/45 |
| Level | Item |
| Title | Letter from William Hyde Wollaston to Thomas Young |
| Date | 22 November 1800 |
| Description | Autographed letter sent to Young on Wellbeck Street, London dated by postmark. Dated in letter as 'Friday eve?'
States Young must forgive him but he will stop investigating [the optical question] previously discussed as Wollaston declines "being led any farther dance after phantoms". It is rather for Young who guesses that inconsistencies might be found, to spend what time he pleases in seeking them as the crystalline lens remains a stumbling block.
Begs Young to observe that Wollaston does not admit Newton's theory to be erroneous. Newton did not discover the fact that different bodies had different dispersive powers, and consequently erred in applying that theory equally to all bodies; but so long as he confined his reasoning to any one body Wollaston maintains that he was right. When at Young's request Wollaston applied the same reasoning and confined it also to one body, which can hardly be objected to, as even upon the other hypothesis of equal velocities for the medium, if the medium remains the same then consequently their relative attraction is in the same proportion. Provides shorter formula than in previous letter.
Notes a mistake in Young's former note. |
| Extent | 3p |
| Format | Manuscript |
| AccessStatus | Open |
Fellows associated with this archive
| Code | PersonName | Dates |
| NA7947 | Young; Thomas (1773 - 1829); physician, physicist and Egyptologist | 1773 - 1829 |
| NA8298 | Wollaston; William Hyde (1766 - 1828); chemist, physicist and physiologist | 1766 - 1828 |