From Beccaria
als and copy: American Philosophical Society; four drafts: American
Philosophical Society
<Turin, December 16, 1779, in Italian: Mr. Chantel gave me
your very gracious letter and told me about the audience—
most gratifying to me—with which you honored him. I am
sorry that for the present time I do not have the energy I could
wish to thank you properly in writing. To make up for it, I shall
try to correspond in my usual vein of respectful esteem for your
immortal discoveries.
I saw in the Journal of the Abbé Rozier your truly global
thoughts on the phenomenon of the aurora borealis. I have at
hand an old paper of mine, precisely on that subject. The fact
that I observed directly an electrical aurora borealis may perhaps
give it some merit. Meanwhile, you can imagine with how
much pleasure I would benefit from some of the afterthoughts
you promised me.
In order to comply with your gracious urgings, I am sending
you herewith a list of the papers that I have published and that
you may not have seen, and some of the many articles that I
have readied for the press. If it pleases the Lord that I should
regain my health, I shall indulge my inclination to experiment
and to observe, and respond to the stimulus that your words
have given me, implying that my recovery might be of some
advantage to science. I shall never stop being, with utmost
gratitude, and most respectfully, your most humble, most devoted
servant Giambatista Beccaria de S P.>
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