95 Dorotheen-Strasse | Berlin | 26th. May 1851
Dear Sir,
Shall I thank you for your last encouraging letter?1 By thus doing I should imply that a kind of equilibrium might be established between my thanks and your kindness – this cannot be done and I therefore refrain from making the attempt, appealing rather to my future actions to testify the effect which your inspiring words have had upon me.
I write now just to mention that I had the honour of an interview to-day with Humboldt. I introduced the topic of your recent investigations in terrestrial magnetism.2 ‘I have read them with astonishment’ was his remark ‘I do not imagine that very little variation can be thus accounted for but in the main he is correct’ His last words to me were – ‘Tell Mr. Faraday that I am quite convinced of the validity of his hypothesis.’ Dove has expressed the same opinion to me.
Could you not pay Berlin a visit? there is no place on earth where you would be more enthusiastically welcomed.3 Your presence would call forth an exhibition of Hero-worship4 with which even Thomas Carlyle himself would be satisfied.
I have been working for the last five weeks at diamagnetism. Prof. Magnus has been kind enough to place the necessary space and apparatus at my disposal – indeed I cannot speak too highly of the kindness of the men of science of Berlin generally.
My results I hope will interest you but I forbear mentioning them as they are not yet complete. It has been again my misfortune to arrive at conclusions very divergent from those of Prof. Plücker. A paper on the subject shall be ready for the British Association5 at its next meeting.
Believe me dear Sir, | Most truly and respectfully Yours | John Tyndall
Prof. Faraday | etc. etc. etc.
Since writing the above I have spent a few hours with Du Bois-Raymond and have succeeded completely in developing a current by muscular contraction6 – I obtained a deflection of about 30° – right or left to the arm contracted. The experiment requires a delicate apparatus and some care. Du Bois’ multiplying Galvanometer contains 24.000 windings
RI MS JT/TYP/12/4006–4008
Transcript Only
your … letter: letter 0477 in which Faraday praised Tyndall’s recent memoir on magnetism.
your … terrestrial magnetism: see letter 0477, n. 6.
no place … enthusiastically welcomed: these compliments were sincere on Tyndall’s part. Although prone to exaggeration and even flattery, in the privacy of his Journal (30 April 1851, JT/2/13b/541) Tyndall recounted the admiration with which his Berlin colleagues regarded Faraday.
Hero-worship: allusion to Carlyle’s praise of heroes and advocacy of hero-worship in his On Heroes, Hero-worship and the Heroic in History (1840).
A paper … British Association: see letter 0484, n. 17
developing a current by muscular contraction: this was the second time Tyndall had conducted du Bois’s experiment (see letter 0480).
Please cite as “Tyndall0489,” in Ɛpsilon: The John Tyndall Collection accessed on 28 April 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/tyndall/letters/Tyndall0489