From Edward Sabine   Nov. 6/51

Woolwich Nov. 6/51

Dear Sir;

I recd at the Royal Society today a copy of your paper on the Polarity of Bismuth1 for which I am very much obliged to you, and acknowledge it at once as I may be a day or two before I am able to read it.

I take it for granted that with such testimonials2 your prospect of obtaining the Professorship at Toronto is secure. I confess I do feel no inconsiderable regret that the mother country is about to be deprived of two such persons as yourself and Mr Huxley3 – May this loss be compensated by the gain to yourselves and to the Colony in which you propose to make your residence!

Would not the interests of all be advanced by your becoming a Fellow of the Royal Society before you go,4 & looking to that Society as the Channel of your future communications? Should this appear to you as it does to me, I should be very happy to put matters in train for your election

Believe me, my dear Sir | Sincerely yours | Edward Sabine.

Dr Tyndall.5

RI MS JT/1/S/4

1

your paper on the Polarity of Bismuth: see letter 0525, n. 2.

2

your testimonials: Tyndall must have sent a set of the printed testimonials along with the bismuth paper to Sabine.

3

Mr Huxley: Huxley was also applying for a position at the University of Toronto.

4

becoming a Fellow … before you go: Tyndall found this offer so signficant that he copied the letter into his Journal (JT/2/6/73–4), copied it out in letters to close friends, and saved the original (after loaning it to the Steuarts).

5

Dr Tyndall: Sabine noted the addressee’s name at the bottom of the first page (which was in this case at the end of the first paragraph) rather than at the end of the letter. This was a more formal and, perhaps also, an old-fashioned practice.

Please cite as “Tyndall0559,” in Ɛpsilon: The John Tyndall Collection accessed on 28 April 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/tyndall/letters/Tyndall0559