A letter from Richard Phillips, F. R. S. (1778-1857) to Michael Faraday, F. R. S. (1791-1867)

Abstract

Richard Phillips, the son of a well-known London printer and book-seller, was trained as a chemist and druggist under William Allen, F. R. S. Phillips was a breezy, able and versatile chemist who left his mark in pharmaceutical chemistry, in mineralogy and in scientific journalism. In addition he held a number of teaching posts and he was his colleagues’ first choice as President of the Chemical Society when it was founded in 1841. Phillips declined the honour but later was elected President in 1849. He rendered conspicuous services to pharmacy by his accurate and incisive criticisms of the London Pharmacopoeia in 1811 and his advice was sought about subsequent editions. He was a well-known mineral analyst and in 1823 he discovered the nature of uraninite. His interest in minerals no doubt led to his appointment in 1839 as chemist and curator of the Museum of Practical Geology in Jermyn Street, a position he held until his death in 1851. Phillips lectured on chemistry at the London Hospital and at Grainger’s School of Medicine in Southwark and was also Professor of Chemistry at the Royal Military College, Sandhurst. Under his joint editorship with Brayley of the Annals of Philosophy from 1821 onwards and later of the Philosophical Magazine with which it was merged, the Annals became an influential scientific journal. In addition to original communications, it contained reprints of important scientific papers, many of them translations from foreign journals, and also excellent summaries of scientific progress. Phillips was a friend and admirer of Michael Faraday and in 1821 he, fortunately for science, directed Faraday’s attention to electromagnetism by asking him to contribute a series of articles on this new field of investigation following on Oersted’s discovery of the effect of an electric current on a magnetic needle in 1819.