To William Francis1

Dear Francis.

By breaking the parcel2 into two I save a penny which is a bit of wisdom I have alighted on by the purest accident. I should feel obliged if you print those French testimonials3 in French for me. Plücker4 you see has proved a trump5

J. Tyndall

StBPL T&F, Authors’ letters

1

[14 October 1851]: see n. 2 below and letter 0548, n. 1.

2

the parcel: the parcel containing copies of Tyndall’s memoirs (see letter 0548). The reference to the parcel, the present tense (‘I save a penny’), and the small size of this scrap of paper suggests that this letter was enclosed with one of the parts of the original parcel.

3

French testimonials: testimonials from Wartmann (received by 6 September), de la Rive (sent 24 September and received by 1 October; see letters 0522 and 0534), Becquerel (received by 1 October) were probably in French. Tyndall had previously asked Francis whether translation was advisable (letter 0538).

4

Plücker: Tyndall requested a testimonial in letter 0523. Plücker’s reply, which is missing, must have arrived only recently.

5

trump: a person of surpassing excellence; a first-rate fellow (OED).

Please cite as “Tyndall0549,” in Ɛpsilon: The John Tyndall Collection accessed on 6 May 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/tyndall/letters/Tyndall0549