Since the long letter I wrote you, Sir H. has written two short papers for the Royal Society--the first on a new solid compound of iodine and oxygen, and the second a new gaseous compound of chlorine and oxygen, which contains four times as much oxygen as euchlorine. The discovery of these bodies contradicts many parts of Gay-Lussac’s paper on iodine, which has been very much vaunted in these parts. The French chemists were not aware of the importance of the subject until it was shown to them, and now they are in haste to reap all the honours attached to it; but their haste opposes their aim. They reason theoretically, without demonstrating experimentally, and errors are the result. * * * * * I am, my dear Friend, yours ever and faithfully, M. FARADAY. The equivocal position thus forced upon Faraday by the _hauteur_ of Lady Davy nearly caused a _contretemps_ during the stay at Geneva, which lasted from the end of June, 1814, to about the middle of September. Bence Jones’s account, derived from Faraday himself, is as follows:--Professor G. de la Rive, undazzled by the brilliancy of Davy’s reputation, was able to see the true worth of his assistant. Davy was fond of shooting, and Faraday, who accompanied them, used to load Davy’s gun for him, while De la Rive loaded his own. Entering into conversation with Faraday, De la Rive was astonished to find that the intelligent and charming young man whom he had taken hitherto for a domestic was really _préparateur de laboratoire_ in the Royal Institution. This led him to place Faraday, in one respect, on an equality with Davy. Whilst they were staying in his house, he wished them to dine together at his table. Davy, it is said, declined, because Faraday acted in some things as his servant. De la Rive expressed his feelings strongly, and ordered dinner in a separate room for Faraday. A rumour spread years after that De la Rive gave a dinner in Faraday’s honour: this is not so, however. [Sidenote: VISIT TO GENEVA.] Of that Geneva visit Faraday says, in 1858, to M. A. de la Rive:-- I have some such thoughts (of gratitude) even as regards your own father, who was, I may say, the first who personally at Geneva, and afterwards by correspondence, encouraged and by that sustained me. This correspondence, which began with the father and was continued with the son, lasted altogether nearly fifty years.