Marburg 11th November 1850
Dear Sir
I send you a translation of Wilde’s memoir.1
With regard to Plücker’s paper2 I certainly think an abstract would be sufficient and I will therefore send you one. His ‘introduction’ as you are aware is a reply to our first memoir;3 this and the single experiment with calcareous spar where our views are also combated I should like to send you entire leaving it to you to abridge if you thought abridgement necessary. The other part shall be condensed as I scarcely think anybody would have patience to read a full translation of it.
You have not intimated which paper you would like first, and in the absence of your instructions upon this head I will attack Clausius next.4 I have looked cursorily over his paper – the matter appears to be ably handled.
Should you wish to have Plücker first a single line will set me to work in the right direction.
With regard to the abstracts for the new series I can only say that it will give me much pleasure to place a portion of my time at your disposal.5 The idea strikes me as being very valuable. By the means you propose the essence of German investigation may be appropriated, and such an abstract uniformly introduced as it puts your readers at once in possession of all that is going on, would doubtless be a great satisfaction to them. I know it would to me were I in England.
The translation of Magnus’s paper has schooled me a little6 and I trust Wilde will be found more flexibly rendered. He handles a subject which requires close accuracy of expression, and in one or two places he might have made himself plainer by putting a slight damper upon his enthusiasm – a little reflection however makes his meaning clear.
Since sending away the translation of Magnus’s paper accident has drawn my attention more closely to it. I have repeated many of his experiments in a variety of ways and with different fluids. If you allow me so much space I will send you three or four pages on the subject7 for it strikes me that Magnus has overlooked one of the most important circumstances of the case.
I return you my best thanks for the trouble you have so kindly taken with my letters.8 Might I request a repetition of your favour as regards the enclosed9 – would you be good enough to have it dropped in the nearest post office for me.
Believe me dear Sir | very faithfully yours | John Tyndall
Wm Francis Esqre.
Things are looking serious here at present. A war between Prussia and the members of the ‘Bund’ seems inevitable.10 Marburg is now in possession of the former, the troops from Wetlzar11 entered it the night before last – Prussia in fact has laid hold of all the important towns of northern Hessia, Cassel inclusive – | J.T.
StBPL T&F, Authors’ letters
Wilde’s memoir: cited letter 0448, n. 8. The translation was published as E. Wilde, ‘On the Untenableness of the received Theory of Newton’s Rings’, Phil. Mag., 37:252 (December 1850), pp. 451–62.
Plücker’s paper: cited letter 0448, n. 9. See letter 0457, n. 2 for the translation.
our first memoir: cited letter 0392, n. 14 (German version) and letter 0395, n. 22 (English version).
I will attack Clausius next: the paper had been published in two parts: R. Clausius ‘Ueber die bewegende Kraft der Wärme und die Gesetze, welche sich daraus für die Wärmelehre selbst ableiten lassen’, Poggend. Annal., 79:3, pp. 368–97 and 79:4, pp. 500–24. The tone of this comment suggests that there is a missing letter (between 24 October and here) in which Tyndall had proposed translating Clausius. See letters 0454 and 0455 for the translation.
With regards to the abstracts for the new series … at your disposal: Tyndall is replying to a missing letter in which Francis proposed that ‘Reports on the Physical Sciences’ become a regular feature in Phil. Mag. Each issue would include ‘an abstract of papers in German journals – here he invites my aid’ (Journal, 5 November 1850, JT/2/13b/515–6). The first of the ‘Reports’ appeared in March 1851 (cited letter 0459, n. 1).
translation … schooled me a little: one of the indications that, in missing letters, Francis was commenting and advising on translation.
I have repeated … on the subject: when Tyndall sent the translation of Magnus to Francis he alluded to his intended paper (letter 0448); he sent it with letter 0456.
my letters: Tyndall often had Francis post letters for him, as for example, when he asked for a letter to be sent to Faraday in letter 0450.
the enclosed: probably letter 0451 to Ginty, and perhaps others.
A war… seems inevitable: the Bund, or ‘Confederation’, was a loose association of German states initially established by the Congress of Vienna in 1815. It was dissolved in 1848, revived in 1850, and lasted until the Austro-Prussian War of 1866. See also letter 0451, n. 2 on military actions.
Wetzlar: a Prussian-governed district about 20 miles southwest of Marburg.
Please cite as “Tyndall0452,” in Ɛpsilon: The John Tyndall Collection accessed on 30 April 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/tyndall/letters/Tyndall0452