| Description | Offers his thanks to Hatchett for his interest in Thomson's affairs. However he has learned that the Professorship was filled a month ago. The selection for the chair was entirely a matter of of being under the influence of one of two parties. One was to vote for Macdonald, the other for Jackson. The matter was tied and will be decided by a court of law, so that Thomson considers that he has 'a lucky escape'. Recounts his examination of the black powder remaining whren zinc is dissolved in sulphuric acid. Analaysis shows it to be a compound of lead, copper and antimony. Since British zinc is made from the same sources, its impurities are likely to be the same. News of various chemists and Thomson's attempts to replicate new metals after the work of Wollaston and Tennant. |