Faraday Riposte

* Although Michael Faraday was something of a religious eccentric, he was not known to make a practice of communing with the dead. The famous “of what use is a newborn baby” conversation cited by Times science writer K.C. Cole (‘Physics Finds a Function, Even for the Unfathomable,” June 29) was more likely to have involved Queen Victoria than Queen Isabella, although if you surf the Internet you’ll find Faraday in the same dialogue with Disraeli, Napoleon and a variety of other historical luminaries.

BURTON J. MITCHELL

Torrance