From J. B. Hannay 28 May 1881
Private Laboratory, | Sword Street, | Glasgow.
28th May 1881
Dear Sir
I am afraid I made a mis-statement in my letter yesterday1 I should have said that the greater the number of atoms going to form a molecule the greater the contraction on combination so that the density of a gas formed of complex molecules would approach that of its liquid and were the complexity infinite the liquid and gaseous states would be merged into one.2 In protein matter we have almost these conditions. I do not remember how I put it in my letter yesterday but I became convinced when on board the steamer on my way home that I had reversed what I wanted to say.3 I am very sorry to give you the trouble of reading this correction as I know you must have plenty of letters to trouble you
I am very Faithfully Yours | J B Hannay
CD annotations
Footnotes
Bibliography
Ashworth, John B. 2001. The history of Helensburgh and the surrounding area. Helensburgh: Portico Gallery.
Durie, Alastair J. 2012. Travels in Scotland: 1788–1881. A selection from contemporary tourist journals. Scottish History Society. Woodbridge, Suffolk: The Boydell Press.
Hannay, James Ballantyne. 1881. On the limit of the liquid state. [Read 10 March 1881.] Proceedings of the Royal Society of London 33 (1881–2): 294–321.
Summary
In complex molecules such as proteins, liquid and gaseous states merge.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-13180
- From
- James Ballantyne Hannay
- To
- Charles Robert Darwin
- Sent from
- Glasgow
- Source of text
- DAR 166: 98
- Physical description
- ALS 2pp †
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 13180,” accessed on 23 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-13180.xml
