Queenwood College 3rd November 1851
My Dear Francis.
I have read the Sidney paper which you were good enough to send me1 carefully through. The spirit in which the matter is conceived is most gratifying; it is catholic,2 as the ruling spirit of such an institution ought to be, and I doubt not if men be found to carry out with energy the design so liberally expressed the undertaking will prosper. One thing I did not like at first, and that is the distinction which is made in point of salary between mathematics and experimental philosophy. On the continent, as you know, there is no such distinction, – if any it is the other way, and it seems strange that in England, the birthplace of Inductive philosophy such a difference should appear. However the authorities know their own affairs best, they make their offer, and of course he who does not like it need not apply. There is a kind of set off however in the fact that the physicist will have three fourths of the fees, and also in the expense which his necessary apparatus entails.
Another circumstance recommends the thing to me. In all probability the situation will permit of more time being devoted to private investigations than that at Toronto. The success of such an undertaking must of course chiefly depend upon local effort; but the position occupied by its professors in their various departments must also greatly influence its power and usefulness. Shutting out the interest which the professor himself must feel in such an arrangement the prosperity of the institution would be best consulted by combining public instruction with private research. The confidence thus created, and the example of industry thus set are inspiring and often of far more value than the direct communication of knowledge.
So far as I can judge from the paper the amount of chemical knowledge required is such as need [not] deter one from undertaking it.3 I have worked in Bunsen’s laboratory both qualitative and quantitative for a year, and have heard his excellent lectures two or three times over, so that in this respect I apprehend little difficulty would arise. The sum granted for apparatus is also an inducement. Were the lot to fall upon me I should make a quick tour through Germany, visit Giessen, Marburg, Göttingen and Berlin; inspect the various cabinets, and note down the improvements recently introduced in the construction of apparatus. With the knowledge thus acquired I conceive the money might be laid out to the best advantage.
All this is of course supposing a case that may never occur; but I think it right to let you know all I have thought about the matter. The distance is certainly great, but the opportunity of lending a hand in the establishment of an institution so liberally based is also tempting. In fine,4 if you do not advise me to the contrary I will become a candidate.
Yours dear Francis | Most sincerely | John Tyndall
Directly I get this lecture off my hands5 I will commence Magnus’s paper; it shall be ready for you in time for the January number.6 You have referred me to the exact thing that I required in the Mag. for 1850. I knew I had seen a memoir from Regnault7 somewhere, and the one you mention is it.
I received the enclosed from Buff yesterday8 – put it in the bag with the rest – I will write off to Weber and Reich9 this week.10
StBPL T&F, Authors’ letters
good enough to send me: letter missing. Francis had informed Tyndall (Journal, 4 November, JT/2/13b/550) that a university was being founded in Sydney and that applications for professorships were to be made to Herschel and Airy.
catholic: inclusive.
need [not] deter one from undertaking it: the advertised position was in ‘Experimental Philosophy and Chemistry’; Tyndall felt he knew enough chemistry to be a serious applicant.
fine: to conclude or sum up (OED).
this lecture: Tyndall was preparing a lecture to deliver at Romsey on Tuesday 11 November (see letters 0557, n.1 and 0568, and Journal, 4 November, JT/2/13b/550).
Magnus’s paper … the January number: Tyndall was translating and condensing a paper for publication in the Phil. Mag. (see letter 0556, n. 10 for original publication). It was published not in January, as expected, but in the February issue (letter 0581, n. 20).
memoir from Regnault: Tyndall had asked Francis (letter 0556) to send him a copy of the paper, either because he wanted to translate it or because (as it seems here) he wanted to read it again. Francis had informed him (in a missing letter) that he had published a translation (‘On the Measurements of Temperatures by Thermo-electric Currents’, Phil. Mag., 36:245 (June 1850), pp. 409–20). Tyndall discussed Regnault’s results, in light of the investigation reported in Magnus’s paper (n. 6), in a section entitled ‘Application of the results of M. Magnus to the solution of certain difficulties encountered by M. Regnault’ in his February 1852 ‘Reports on the Progress of the Physical Sciences’ (cited letter 0581, n. 20).
the enclosed from Buff yesterday: letter missing. Heinrich Buff (1805–78) was a German physicist and chemist. He had studied at Göttingen and worked with Bunsen in Kassel before being appointed professor physics at the University of Giessen in 1837.
Reich: Ferdinand Reich (1799–1882), German chemist and professor of physics at the Frieberg University of Mining and Technology.
I received … this week: the first postscript filled the bottom of Tyndall’s sheet of paper. This second postscript is written vertically in the left margin of the letter.
Please cite as “Tyndall0558,” in Ɛpsilon: The John Tyndall Collection accessed on 8 May 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/tyndall/letters/Tyndall0558