Marburg 19th March 1851
Dear Sir
I return you the proofs1 and with them a thousand thanks. I can well forgive you if you wished me and my emendations2 at the devil on finding your quiet enjoyment broken in upon – you were right in your anticipation – now that I see the thing before me I have not the courage to turn amputator. The majority of your readers will not perhaps find the matter a bit too plain. The description of the Taugentenbussole3 may remain and so may the definition of the strength of a magnet. I was afraid that I had been too diffuse and popular upon these points, if so the error is on the right side I think the matter as it stands wont offend.
The paragraph in the 1st page commencing thus ‘Ten years ago &c’4 – you will be good enough to alter, and substitute that contained in the sheet of emendations.5
The 3rd proposition may remain in its present form.
The law at the commencement of page 272 will come in far better at the end of the table as I have altered it.6
The arrangement on P 275 may stand as it is.
[The] note at the bottom of page 285 would tell better if removed to the bottom <words missing> <to> refer to the star of the end of prop IV.7
<words missing> <ex>periments may be introduced into the text immediately after <words missing> a scrap containing a word or two of introduction in <words missing>
<The allus>ion to the melting point of fatty matter in page 282 you may [exterminate or] sp<are> as you please.8
The sheet of <emendations> will be only brauchbar9 in two instances – 1. for the alteration of the paragraph in the 1-2 page noted above. 2. for the introduction [of] <words missing> experiments – all the rest falls away. I have made several minor [alterations], and introduced a few references which I trust you will contrive to [introduce].
Finally I send you a leaf on which the results are summed up; the paragraph in page 294 commencing with the words ‘In stating the case &c’ may be suffered to <words missing> [with] the words ‘The want here experienced it has been the object of the present inquiry to supply’.10 [There] <word missing> the results <words missing > the affair [1 word illeg]!
Knoblauch read a portion of a letter for me a month ago in which referring <words missing> Schleg<el>11 his father said – ‘Sie sehen aus als warm Sie in England sehr gefeiert wurden’.12 you will find no particular genius in that paper which I have translated.13
Something similar to your suggestion about the Royal society14 has often swum in my imagination But how can it be managed? I don’t understand the thing, I know I can calculated [sic] on the interest of Scott Russel15 for a brotherinlaw of his is one of my best friends – his address is Captain Wynne Royal Engineers Roxeth Harrow.16 He sent a letter of introduction to Mr Russel after me to Edinburgh but it was unluckily mislaid in the assembly room of the association17 and I did not get it until 3 weeks afterwards. I think Faraday would also interest himself for me – I have received two very kind letters from him. Captain Wynne is government inspector of Railways and is every day in the Railway Commissn office Whitehall He will right gladly respond to any enquiries you make regarding me. and I doubt not will act to the utmost of his power on any suggestion which your experience in such matters may prompt. Frankland had a valua<ble> friend in Playfair – I believe it was his agency – coupled of course <with> the value of the investigation – which obtained him [a grant of £] <words missing> ‘the Royal’ about a year ago.18 In his last letter Faraday <words missing> he intended after some time to turn his attention to the infl<uence of> <words missing> arrangement upon Magnetism. This is a subject which <words missing> gladly pursue I have long worked at it and see high poss<ibilities in> this direction – Until within the last 4 years my life was devoted to Engineering and this accounts for my ignorance as to how matters are transacted in the Royal Society and [such] places. Lighten my darkness <I> beseech you19 – I will do any thing you recommend.
most truly yours | John Tyndall
One question more and I have done. You say you will get some literary occupation for me.20 Could this be done if I remain in Germany? When pressed to it I can write rhymes, romances, metaphysics, any thing at all but politics and lies! – The thing is yet pending as regards Queenwood – As soon as you can inform yourself on this head would you oblige me by sending me a line or two – without paying the postage?
You know Kohlraush, he is in Marburg at present; his experiments are looked upon in Germany as establishing the contact theory of [galvanism] a short digest of his labours would be highly interesting would it not?21 – I will send <1 word missing> Clausius strictures when they appear.22
I should like very much <to> receive three or 4 copies both of the present memoir23 and of the jet24 – would you be good enough to send a few to the office of Leigh Hunts Journal, Mr John Stores Smith sends me the Journal thro’ Longmann, and he will be kind enough to forward copies at the same time.25
StBPL T&F, Authors’ letters
return you the proofs: proofs of the memoir on magnetism (see letter 0464, n. 2). Francis’s letter mentioning the despatch of the proofs has not been found, but see nn. 14 and 20 below.
emendations: Tyndall had sent a series of requests for changes to the memoir.
Taugentenbussole: see letter 0473, n. 5.
Ten years ago &c: the alteration was made for there is no such sentence on the first page.
sheet of emendations: the sheet which accompanied the letter has not been found; we assume it went to the typesetters.
The law … have altered it: the position was changed as requested and appeared two thirds down p. 272.
[The] note … prop IV: Tyndall may be alluding to the note (marked by a star) at the end of proposition 4 on p. 292; if so, it was moved as requested.
you may … as you please: the reference to fatty matter is in the published memoir (p. 282).
brauchbar: useful (German).
‘The want … to supply’: this sentence was added to the end of the paragraph as requested (p. 295).
Schleg<el>: the allusion to translation suggests August Wilhelm Schlegel, whose translations of Shakespeare were widely admired, rather than his brother, Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel.
‘Sie sehen … wurden’: ‘You look as if you were celebrated very much in England’ (German).
that paper which I have translated: not identified.
suggestion about the Royal Society: the discussion here suggests that Francis, in the missing letter (n. 1), raised the possibility that Tyndall could apply for a the Royal Society grant or be nominated for the FRS. The allusion to Frankland’s grant (see n. 18 below), suggests the former.
Scott Russel: John Scott Russell.
Roxeth: Wynne lived at Roxeth House, Harrow.
assembly room of the association: that is, the administrative centre of the BAAS meeting at Edinburgh in August 1850.
a grant … a year ago: Frankland received his first grant from the RS in 1850 (Russell, Edward Frankland, p. 107).
lighten ... I beseech you: a paraphrase from the (Anglican) Liturgy for Evening Prayer: ‘Lighten our darkness, we beseech thee’.
you say ... literary occupation for me: letter missing. This offer is stronger than that made by Francis in letter 0472.
a short digest … would it not?: it seems Francis agreed. Tyndall worked at translating Kohlrausch’s memoirs in April and May; see Journal entries for 6 April (JT/2/13b/524), 30 April and 1 May (both JT/2/13b/541). Three papers by Kohlrausch formed the basis of a ‘Reports’ sent to Francis in early 1852 and published in the May 1852 number of the Phil. Mag. (see letter 0603, nn. 6 and 9). There are no allusions to Kohlrausch in other letters to Francis.
Clausius … they appear: probably an allusion to Clausius’s ongoing dispute with Thomson. Tyndall sent two papers by Clausius to Francis on 2 April (letter 0476); in a letter to Francis (letter 0498, n. 4), sent in June, Clausius replied to Thomson.
memoir: his forthcoming memoir on magnetism (n .1).
the jet: see letter 0456, n. 1.
I … time: This second postscript is written, in a small hand, in the left margin of the page.
Please cite as “Tyndall0475,” in Ɛpsilon: The John Tyndall Collection accessed on 27 April 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/tyndall/letters/Tyndall0475