JOSEPH HENRY - MANUSCRIPT LETTER SIGNED 04/03/1868 - HFSID 153534

JOSEPH HENRY.
Discusses an exchange of samples
Manuscript Letter signed: "Jospeph Henry" as Secretary of the Smithsonian, 1p, 8x10¾. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, 1868 April 3. To Rev. E. C. Bolles, Portland, Maine. In full: "We will send the desired copy of Museum Miscellanea if one can be found, although the supply is nearly if not entirely exhausted. At present in the absence of Dr. Stimpson we cannot conveniently furnish specimens of radiates - crustaceans as desired, but hope to be able to do so hereafter. We should be pleased to receive from you the diatomaceous earth in considrable quantity for distribution to correspondents, as we are now about making up sets for the purpose from different localities. About a pint of each lot would be desirable or as near that amount as convenient. Very respectfully. Your obedient servant". Joseph HENRY (1797-1878), a physicist and scientific administrator, discovered electromagnetic induction and self-induction. He is also credited with the invention of the electric motor (1829) and later invented low-resistance and high-resistance galvanometers. In 1893, his name was given to the standard electrical unit of inductive resistance, the henry. In 1846, Henry became the first Secretary of the newly organized Smithsonian Institution, where he established a continuing tradition of research. Under his leadership, weather reporting stations were connected by telegraph in the U.S. In the spring of 1863, Henry was one of the founding members of the National Academy of Science and served as Academy President from 1867. He was both President of the National Academy of Science and Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution until his death. E. C. Bolles, a Universalist minister who edited a collection of Hymns for that church (1865), was also Secretary of the Portland Natural History Society. In 1868 that Society, just granted exhibition rooms in the rebuilt City Hall, was in the process of rebuilding its collection after Portland's Great Fire of July 4, 1866. Eight pinhead sized holes through center of document, not affecting legibility. Three ¼-inch tears in right edge. Otherwise, fine condition.