From James Craven   16th Octr. 1849

Halifax 16^th. Oct^r. 1849-

My dear Tyndall,

I should have answered your letter sooner had I not been very busy with my Effusion on Geology¹ which I mentioned to you in my last.² I found it a much more difficult task than I had anticipated – & as you will no doubt presume I placed but little confidence in myself & thus my trouble, in hunting in all the Works I could find on the subject, to find suitable paragraphs, was endless – however suffice it that through the kindness of Tom³ it was completed in a tolerable shape – The History was the commencement – then the review of the various great divisions in the strata giving an outline of the forms of life which characterised them & then ended up with a review of the present causes that are in existence & of the effects taking place around us with a view to explain the previous phenomena – I then gave them the nebular theory⁴ – & the facts which suggested it & finally adverted to the theory of the Vestiges of Creation⁵ – On closing however this paper & when quietly seated by myself on the evening when it had been delivered I certainly felt happy – but in a few days I felt a sort of disgust creep over me – learning – reading – science & everything else seemed fanciful & vain – like a will o’ the wisp⁶ which may be followed but never to realize pleasure

I looked back on my past life – on the 2 or 3 years of my apprenticeship⁷ – how I had spent my time principally on one object & I was perfectly disatisfied & miserable with the result of my labors & resolved since no comfort or happiness attended these [researches] to have no care for them in the future – I was low indeed. Everything which I had expected would follow necessarily from my studies was disappointed & I found nothing but vexation – After such reflections as these I resolved that it was better to devote ones attention exclusively to monetary concerns & inwardly dammed my sad lot that ever I was in a profession – give me thought I – the manufacturer, the speculator – anything to keep in activity the mind – there, there is something to show for all this labor – the reward is something which procures you at least comfort in one respect while the other is but one series of disappointments

Such were the reflections – & mentioning them to Tom he kindly comforted me by saying he, you, & all, have or must go through this stage & at the same time encouraged me to go on – Last night he lent me Emerson's Essays⁸ as appropriate to my present disease which in time I will read well. – Yet I cannot say that yet I am quite resolved to go on in this apparently barren track – the excitement attending the other pursuit is great – & always furnishes something for the mind (if you can bring it down to that) while at the same time from the success which I have lately had in some transactions I have taken in hand is an additional incentive to such a pursuit – I am well aware of the sordid & worthless nature of the object – money – but perhaps after all there is more pleasure & enjoyment in gaining it than in the attainment of what has been called scientific knowledge – however to proceed to your letter –

You ask me if I ‘ever think of death’ & what my ‘feelings would probably be were I certain of its approach’⁹ Yes – often – I have often when some known friend has been suddenly called away asked myself – where is the being I once knew – his body is the same throughout but where is the spirit? & I often fancy to myself that perhaps there may be some truth in the doctrine of transubstantian¹⁰ though of a much higher kind than that which transmits the soul from a higher to a lower creature – It is a curious subject however & in a future letter I will give you a dish on this subject for Tom has just told me that this is the wrapper sheet¹¹ so I must be brief – Talking of dishes – At the time you wrote yours dishes¹² seem to have made a great impression on you – Tom must have given you to understand that the powers I possess on this subject are prodigious or something of the kind – perhaps you dreamt it or rather as clairvoyance is the ‘go’ here at present was the means by which you arrived at the conclusion – however it is incorrect but more on all these subjects in my next – for somehow my letter has been sadly curtailed by the lengthened prelude of my own state however believe me dear Tyndall to remain

Yours very affectionately | James Craven

RI MS JT/1/HTYP/37-38

RI MS JT/1/H/139-140