Mein lieber Herr Tyndall,
Ich habe nur zwei minuten um diese wenige Seilen einem Briefe des Hrn. Edmondsons beizufügen. Ich erwartete alle Tage einen Brief von Ihnen; sonst hätte ich Ihnen längst schon geschrieben. Ich schreibe dies bloß meine herzlichsten Bitten denen des Hern. Edmondsons beizufugen daß Sie doch her-kommen so bald als nur möglich. Der Abgang des Hern. Galloway ändert sehr vieles and macht Ihnen alles alles viel leichter und angenehmer hier. O Glauben Sie nur jetzt werden [Ihre schönen Tagen hier]. ich sage Ihnen es stehe jetzt glaube ich schöne Tage vor Ihnen und vor ganz Queenwood. was mich selbst anbetrifft so verspreche ich Ihnen mein ganzes Schweizerherz und mein ganzes Schweizerhand ans Werk zu legen damit von jetzt an alles nach Wünschen gehe. vieles, vieles werde ich Ihnen zu sagen haben wenn Sie kommen; ich baue Schon die Schönsten Schlößer in die Luft, machen Sie doch daß Sie wahr werden, dadurch daß Sie kommen. Diese zwei Yahre haben mich manches Bitter[n] gelehrt, ich habe manches Dumme gethan, und manches Dumme angesehen. Das war aber auch der fieberhaften, ansteckenden Atmosphere zuzuschreiben in der wir oft lebten. Zeit einigen Monaten ist mir ein neues Luft über das Leben aufgegangen und Sie sollen mich bereit finden zu allem Großen, Guten, Edeln, und Wahren, kräftig handzubieten O dass ich etwas dazu vermöchte Ihr herkommen zu bestimmen, gewiß Sie werden es nicht bereuen aber Sie sollen kommen und sehen. Wie lange die Zeit sein wird bis wir eine Antwort von Ihnen haben! Die Schwierigkeiten die ich vor 4 Monaten vor Ihnen sah im Falle Sie herkämen sind alle jetzt verschwunden und glücklich hat sich alles gewendet. Die herzlichsten Grüße und Wünsche von Ihren treuen alten Freunde und, auf Wiedersehen!
John Haas.
RI MS JT/2/6/23
JT Transcript
My dear Herr Tyndall,
I have only two minutes to add these few lines to a letter from Herr Edmondson.2 I was expecting a letter from you every day, otherwise I would have already written to you long ago. I am writing this merely to add my sincerest requests to those of Herr Edmondson that you will come here as soon as is only possible. The departure of Herr Galloway3 changes a very great deal and makes everything, everything, much easier and more pleasant for you here. Oh, just think, now you are going [to have lovely days] here. I tell you, lovely days await you, I think, and the whole of Queenwood. As far as I myself am concerned now, I promise you that I shall put my whole Swiss heart and my whole Swiss hand to work so that from now on everything will go as you wish. I shall have much, much indeed to tell you when you come; I am already building the loveliest castles in the air, just make them come true by coming here. These past two years have taught me many a bitter thing, I have done many a silly thing, and seen many a silly thing. That, though, could also be attributed to the feverish, infectious atmosphere4 in which we were often living.5 For some months a new air has been rising over my life, and you should find me ready to lend a sturdy hand to everything great, good, noble, and true. 6Oh, if only I could do something to ensure your coming here, I am sure you will not regret it but you should come and see. How long will it be until we have an answer from you! The difficulties which I saw awaiting you 4 months ago7 in the event you came here have all disappeared now and everything has turned out happily. The sincerest greetings and wishes from your loyal old friend, and auf Wiedersehen!
John Haas.
[16–18 February]: Tyndall received this letter on 22 February (Journal, 23 February (JT/2/13b/522) enclosed with a letter from Edmondson. Given that letters from London usually took four days to reach Marburg we estimate five days for letters from Hampshire.
letter from Herr Edmondson: letter missing, but Tyndall received it on 22 February (ibid). Tyndall had discussed returning to Queenwood in August–September 1850 but had proposed to Edmondson that they defer negotiations for six months (letters 0434 and 0438).
departure of Herr Galloway: Robert Galloway (1822/3–1896) a chemist who wrote many text books, was born at Cartmel (Lancashire) and educated at the Grammar School there. His early career followed the same track as Frankland’s. On leaving school, he was apprenticed to the same Lancaster druggist, and later studied under Hofmann at the Royal College of Chemistry, London. In 1848, when Frankland departed with Tyndall for Germany, he became chemistry teacher at Queenwood, and in 1851 left Queenwood for Putney College, where he became assistant to Playfair. He was succeeded at Queenwood by Debus. He was later Professor of Practical Chemistry at the Museum of Irish Industry in Dublin. (Obituary notice in Journal of the Chemical Society, Transactions, 69, 1896, pp. 733-4, COPAC (for list of publications), and Russell, Edward Frankland, p. 61.)
atmosphere: Tyndall occasionally slipped into English when copying out Haas’s letter. Here he wrote the English word rather than the German, atmosphäre.
feverish … atmosphere in which we were often living: there was much conflict at Queenwood when Tyndall and Haas had worked together there in 1848-9 (see Vol. 2 and letter 0492).
true. : Tyndall left this and the later blank space in his transcription. It is likely that they were in the original.
4 months ago: Haas implied that he wrote to Tyndall four months previously; this letter is missing.
Please cite as “Tyndall0469,” in Ɛpsilon: The John Tyndall Collection accessed on 27 April 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/tyndall/letters/Tyndall0469