Tuesday Evening.
Dear Professor.
I have just reached home and was not aware until the present moment of your kind invitation. I regret exceedingly that I am compelled to deny myself the pleasure of being present with you this evening – Last night I received a letter from the editor of the philosophical Magazine which demands my immediate attention2 and thus throws an obstacle in the way of my enjoyment – Trusting that you will accept this as my apology and thanking you heartily for your past kindness
I remain | most respectfully yours | John Tyndall
Prof. Mitscherlich | &c &c
DM HS 897
[13 May 1851]: dated by letter 0484 to Hirst, which refers to this invitation as ‘last tuesday’.
letter … demands my immediate attention: Francis’s letter to Tyndall is missing but Tyndall noted in his Journal that he received ‘a most kind letter’ from Francis on 12 May (JT/2/13b/543). Whether this letter actually demanded Tyndall’s immediate attention cannot be determined, but his account to Hirst (letter 0484) implies that he preferred to continue work on his investigation over sociability.
Please cite as “Tyndall0483,” in Ɛpsilon: The John Tyndall Collection accessed on 28 April 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/tyndall/letters/Tyndall0483