John Tyndall to Faraday   24 September 1855¹

Monday, 25th [sic], Sep, 1855,

My dear Mr Faraday

I have a bad pen and no knife fit to mend it, so I fear it will give your eyes some trouble to make out my blurred sentences. It is very still here at present - The sun set in golden clouds half an hour ago - The hive of life which this roof usually covers has been out nutting all day and is not yet returned, so I am left alone to make use of the tranquil evening hour in writing to you. In passing through London en route to Glasgow² I was glad to learn that your health was restored, on coming through on Saturday³ I was equally glad to hear the good tidings confirmed. I thought of running down to Sydenham to see you and Mrs Faraday, but a second thought suggested that I might only disturb you - indeed the idea sometimes occurs to me that I give you a great deal too much trouble to read letters some of which contain almost nothing that could be expected to interest you, nevertheless some blind instinct causes me to write, and to hope that I do not pester you. Previous to going to Glasgow Frankland, myself and a third friend made four days journey through the lake district of Cumberland. Frankland himself has taken a small house in Windemere, has a boat on the lake and spends his time fishing and getting his thin cheeks tanned with the hue of health. We started one glorious morning, went to Coniston; thence through a beautiful valley to Langdale Pikes and put up at a farm house at the base of the mountain. The clouds gathered and rain fell during the night the wet weather prolonged itself into the following day, but taking advantage of a lighter hour we set out once more. We had to face a steep and rugged pass, and to clamber with great toil over the rough boulders strewed along the bed of a mountain torrent[.] The rain fell heavily all the time and drenched me through. We reached the summit, turned into a wrong track which cost us upwards of ten miles additional labour. We had to ascend a second pass almost as steep and rugged as the first, the rain still falling - sometimes our pathway was converted into a brook through which we trudged ankle deep in water. My companions were furnished with mackintoshes, I had a large horserug over my shoulders which drank in the rain like a sponge and became enormously heavy chiefly along its dependent edges which flapped wearily against my drenched limbs. Notwithstanding this I was the freshest of the party when the day was concluded. Having reached Wastdale we got shelter in a farm house - there were no public houses - and I was happy enough to secure a pair of trousers belonging to a corpulant mountaineer into which I crept while my own were drying. Next day was a repetition of the same. Crossing Blackstair to Buttermere the rain descended and drenched us once more. The exertion however kept a warm moisture on the body and although the toil was excessive I enjoyed it - it left no rust on the muscles. From Buttermere, which is a glorious place, we passed by Honister Crag to Borrowdale - saw Lodore, crossed Derwent Water in a boat and put up at Keswick. Thence to Penrith, thence to Glasgow where I was soon plunged amid the duties of secretary⁴. From this I was not able to extricate myself until the last journal was prepared. Stevelly⁵ was ill and did not make his appearance. This rendered my duties very laborious. The meeting was very successful as regards numbers, but the papers brought forward were not remarkable. Indeed I left Glasgow with the opinion which I entertained on entering it, that I should have contributed more to the advancement of science by staying at home and doing my work than by going there. The longer I live the more I learn to value private in preference to associated effort. It is to the solitary worker that science has to look for its advancement rather than to the brilliant gatherings of a society however pleased that society may be with its own performance. I described the experiments which I made before you and De la Rive⁶. Thomson and myself had a short discussion afterwards, the memory of which was unpleasant to me for a day or two, but which I have now almost forgotten⁷. I have been told that the discussion was misrepresented in the newspapers, but this I do not know as I have never seen any report of it whatever. I thought at the time that a degree of partisanship was shown almost approaching to unfairness; but it is perfectly possible that I was a partisan myself and simply saw my own image in others. The whole matter seems infinitely small regarded from a proper point of view, so I will say no more about it.

Brewster read a paper on what he called the triple spectrum⁸. You know he imagines the spectrum to be composed of three distinct spectra, Red, yellow and blue his views have been criticised by Whewell⁹ and others, and in the papers brought forward at Glasgow he makes a terrible assault upon his antagonists. It was most cleverly written, full of that kind of talent which excites your admiration without influencing your convictions. On Wednesday morning¹⁰ I was weary enough and having completed my duties Frankland and myself proposed spending a day on Loch Lomond. We went, and while there learned that Loch Katrine, the scene of Scotts¹¹ poem of the Lady of the Lake¹² was within a few miles of us. Walked to Loch Katrine across the country. Crossed the lake in an elegant little screw steamer, and spent the night in the jaws of the Trosachs. I never saw a scene of deeper loveliness than that presented by the head of Loch Katrine. Next day we went to Sterling¹³ and thence to Glasgow whence I started on Friday at 9 o clock and reached London at about 10 o clock the same evening.

I have got to work, but it will take a day or two to get thoroughly into it as I was before starting. I am trying whether the total magnetic intensity of bismuth is increased by compression. This I find to be the case, though I must still make some corroborative experiment. What stands in hand-books regarding the increase of specific gravity needs I think careful examination. With the power of compression, and the balance at my command here I have not been able to prove that any sensible change of specific gravity takes place. I shall however apply more delicate tests by and by - and now farewell for the present with kind wishes to Mrs Faraday and Miss Barnard

Believe me | most sincerely Yours | John Tyndall