receive2 the papers.
I entirely agree with your remark as regards Lardner3 – It is a thousand pities that he made that false step4 – He is an able man. There is a symmetry so to speak in his manner of thinking which I have seldom seen surpassed. As I have written to him5 I should certainly like to send him a memoir or two; though I shall make no use of his testimonial.6
The end of the month7 will answer for Magnus &c.8 Just let me know when you purpose publishing the report. You will scarcely get it out before the 1st of January. The report of Riess’s paper9 I will send you some day of the present week.
I have been requested by a Society in Romsey to give them a lecture and have half engaged to the same at Southampton. The subject I have chosen is optics illustrated by the electric light.10 I will send you your number of Poggendorff in a few days.
most faithfully yours | J. Tyndall
RDS 27/3
[1–2 November 1851]: This letter dates from before, perhaps some days before, the Romsey lecture which took place on Tuesday 11 November (Hampshire Advertiser & Salisbury Guardian, 15 November 1851, p. 5, under ‘Recent events in Romsey’). Comparison of allusions to the lecture and the Magnus paper between this letter and the following one lead us to place this letter, somewhat tentatively, before letter 0558 (3 November).
receive: this letter is a fragment.
your remark ... Lardner: the letter, which would be the letter Francis wrote in response to Tyndall’s letter 0554, is missing.
that false step: Lardner had eloped with a married woman in 1840. Her husband followed them to Paris and subjected Lardner to a flogging, but his wife refused to return to him. They were divorced in 1841 and she married Lardner in 1846. The scandal effectively ended Lardner’s career in England and he lived in Paris until his death.
I have written to him: letter missing.
use of his testimonial: Tyndall had raised the possibility of obtaining a testimonial from Lardner in letter 0554 to Francis. This letter reveals that Tyndall had already requested a testimonial from Lardner but that Francis had advised that Lardner’s reputation made a testimonial from him of doubtful value.
end of the month: the month of November. Tyndall intends to send his Magnus summary and translation in time for 1 January publication, which seemed to him the earliest possible publication date; it was not published until February (letter 0556, n. 10).
Magnus &c: see letter 0556, n. 10 for references.
Riess’s paper: cited letter 0514, n. 4.
requested by a Society ... electric light: the lecture was delivered at the request of the Mutual Improvement Society of Romsey. As this was before the invention of the incandescent light bulb, electric light was arc lighting.
Please cite as “Tyndall0557,” in Ɛpsilon: The John Tyndall Collection accessed on 8 May 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/tyndall/letters/Tyndall0557