none but pirated editions of that book have been published, thus far, but i shall issue it, greatly expanded, two or three months hence, through j. r. osgood, & co., boston. title, “life on the mississippi.”

i have read your book with great interest, particularly the first part, which details the history of electricity. i read the rest of the book just as i read a german work—for the sake of the solid enjoyment which one gets out of almost understanding what he is reading, but falls just enough short of it to leave his mind in a state of enthusiastic confusion. you are so familiar with the technicalities that they seem simple and easy; but to an outsider they convey a darkness as impenetrable as our easy alphabet conveys to a coma[n]che. i read the whole book with pleasure, as i have already intimated, but i could not set up a telephone circuit now, nevertheless, which would pass inspection. i know i should get some of the ohms in the wrong place.