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The Royal Society: Science in the Making

Unpublished letter, 'An account of the water of the well Zem Zem with a qualitative analysis of the same by Professor [Michael] Faraday' from John Davidson to the Secretary of the Royal Society

Reference number: AP/19/11

Date: 1835

Description

Davidson analyses a sample of water collected from the well Zem-Zem at Jedda [Jeddah, Saudi Arabia]. Includes a letter from Faraday dated 3 April 1835.
Written by Davidson at St James Street [London].

Subject: Hydrology

Received and read 14 May 1835.

Whilst the Royal Society declined to publish this paper in full, an abstract of the paper was published in volume 3 of Abstracts of the Papers Printed in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London [later Proceedings of the Royal Society] as 'An account of the water of the well Zem-zem, with a qualitative analysis of the same by Professor Faraday; in a letter from John Davidson, Esq., to the Secretaries, and communicated by them'.

Reference number
AP/19/11
Earliest possible date
1835
Physical description
Ink on paper
Page extent
6 pages
Format
Manuscript

Creator name

John Davidson

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Citation

John Davidson, Unpublished letter, 'An account of the water of the well Zem Zem with a qualitative analysis of the same by Professor [Michael] Faraday' from John Davidson to the Secretary of the Royal Society, 1835, AP/19/11, The Royal Society Archives, London, https://makingscience.royalsociety.org/items/ap_19_11/unpublished-letter-an-account-of-the-water-of-the-well-zem-zem-with-a-qualitative-analysis-of-the-same-by-professor-michael-faraday-from-john-davidson-to-the-secretary-of-the-royal-society, accessed on 22 April 2026

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  • Archived Papers

    The 'Archived Papers' collection is comprised of original manuscript scientific papers and letters submitted to the Royal Society which remained unpublished or were abstracted in the journal 'Proceedings of the Royal Society' published from 1830 onwards.

    Dates: 1768 - 1989

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