Letter from W M [William Mundell] Thornton, 2 Claremont Villas, Forest Hall, Newcastle on Tyne, to Sir Oliver [Lodge] Lodge must be busy, but Thornton would like to send him a paper for possible communication to the Royal Society. It deals with the measurement of dielectric constant by a novel method. He explains his method, using accurately made ellipsoids and cylinders suspended between flat plates connected to an electrical supply. He believes it will supply [Richard Cockburn] Maclaurin's call for a more accurate method made in his Proceedings paper. Thornton has given values for twenty substances measured in this way, and he summarises the chief points of the paper. It is a longer paper than he would have liked but represents the work of three years' spare time. The work is not unlike that of [Charles Vernon] Boys on the gravitational constant, relying on accuracy of workmanship. Hilgers made the glass and quartz ellipsoids and cylinders, while Thornton made the rest. 26 December 1908