To Benjamin Franklin from H. Sykes, 13 March 1779
From H. Sykes
ALS: American Philosophical Society
Place du Palais Royal le 13 Mars 1779.
Sir
As you Seem’d desirous to know the Particulars Relatif to a Small Globe about Which I had the Honour of Writing to you Some time Ago,8 I now take the Liberty of inclosing a Letter from Mr. Haywood Which will Explain the Whole Matter to you.9
I am Sir, with much Esteem Your Most Obedient and Most humble Servant
H Sykes
P.S. I have in my Warehouse, Whatever is most curious in Opticks, and Mathematicks, made By Dollond, and Ramsden, of London—1
Addressed: A Monsieur / Monsieur Franklin, / Deputé des Etats Unies de / L’Amerique / á Passy
Notation: h Sykes Paris 13 mars 1779.
8. Jan. 26, 1779: XXVIII, 430–1.
9. That letter, which BF returned on March 18 (below), is missing.
1. Peter Dollond and his brother-in-law Jesse Ramsden were preeminent London opticians. Dollond was carrying on the distinguished work of his father, the inventor of a refracting telescope with which BF was familiar: XI, 22. Ramsden, in addition to his optical work, was a brilliant inventor and instrument-maker. His work won him membership in the Royal Society and, in 1795, a Copley Medal. DNB; Charles Joseph Singer et al., A History of Technology (5 vols., Oxford, 1955–58), IV, 387–404, 603–4, plate I; Maurice Daumas, Les Instruments scientifiques aux XVIIe et XVIIIe siècles (Paris, 1953), pp. 206, 315–20.