Queenwood 13th April 1852
My Dear Frankland,
The arrival of our old father at his old habitation2 has put me in mind of the long epistolary debt which you have against me – I’m a wretched Sinner in this respect I know – A few years ago I used to find an absolute pleasure in correspondence but a few years can work great changes as my present experience testifies – A short time ago I was full of life, and ready at any given moment to fall in love with the first pair of bright eyes which shot their glances into me – now I scarcely feel a vestige of the old fervour I am becoming daily more of a moral petrefaction; more and more a monk in habits if not in thought. I should begin to be very anxious if I thought this state likely to be permanent but well I know that there is still a balm in Gilead,3 and that one of these fine mornings my heart and affections shall be found blossoming once more like the rose of Sharon4 – For some weeks my health had been far from vigorous – I had an attack of influenza a short time ago and unluckily the very day it seized upon me I had to lecture at Romsey;5 by an effort I stirred up fire enough to carry me through but the reaction came afterwards and I was weak and feeble for many days – the east wind is now yielding up its sting, the glorious sun is once more shining, and in sympathy with the revival of universal nature I feel a stirring in my dry bones6 also. it is to be hoped that I shall be a vigorous man at the end of the half year.
Here are three mortal pages about myself – Well though I have heard nothing from you direct for some time I have heard something about you – Father tells me that you are about building a new house, that your laboratory is a beautiful one, and I have myself read that solid report of yours on the hydrocarbon gas7 – a substantial thing which carries internal evidence to those who are able to appreciate it that the man who executed it knew what he was about. I shall take a run over to you sometime and see how the patriarch looks under his own vine and figtree8 –
Debus is now in Bristol having accompanied Tom Hirst thitherward – Tom made his appearance in England lately without letting any one know anything of his intention – He will return to Marburg in a couple of weeks – poor old Marburg – many odorous9 memories cluster round the old spot. I suppose the apples are in bloom now at each side of the Professors Walk10 – and the leaves are budding along the slope up to the castle walls11 – although I have not a living, speaking memento of Marburg as you have12 still I shall ever remember the old place with affection. The time I spent there is now becoming dreamy to me; but it is a dream which is here and there illuminated by Smiles and Sunshine –
Marburg naturally associates itself with the idea of Mrs Frankland – I hope she likes England and that each succeeding year she will like it better and feel happier in the land of John Bull. Remember me most kindly to her. Little I thought [4] years ago before I had ever seen her face, and when you and I used to jest about her on the spot where I at present write13 that the day would come when I should desire my remembrances she being a resident in Manchester – Wonderful world! is it not. If my paper were longer14 I would write more – lebe wohl – Tyndall.
Dr Frankland &c &c15 | Professor of Chemistry | Owen’s College | Manchester
JRL Frankland, 30
[6–13] April 1852: Tyndall probably began this letter on 6 April, because he initially wrote ‘6th’, crossed it out, and wrote ‘13th’ above.
our old father at his old habitation: this implies that Singleton, known affectionately as father to Tyndall and Frankland, had visited Queenwood, but we have found no independent reference to such a visit.
a balm in Gilead: a rare perfume produced in the region of Gilead that was used medicinally. The phrase, used occasionally in the First Testament (for example, Jeremiah 22:8), came in Christian tradition to represent a spiritual medicine, able to heal the soul.
the rose of Sharon: Song of Solomon 2:1. ‘I am the rose of Sharon, and the lily of the valleys’.
lecture at Romsey: Tyndall lectured at Romsey on Tuesday 30 March (letter 0611, esp. n. 4).
a stirring in my dry bones: allusion to the vision of Ezekiel 37:1–10, in which old bones become living people.
report of yours on the hydrocarbon gas: possibly ‘Contributions to the knowledge of the manufacture of gas’, read 13 January 1852 and published in Manchester Phil. Soc. Mem. X (1852), pp. 71–120 and Liebig Annal., 82 (1852), pp. 1–49; abstract printed in Chem. Soc. Journ., 5 (1853), pp. 39–50.
the patriarch looks under his own vine and figtree: allusion, in biblical language, to Frankland having family and property.
odorous: sweet-scented (OED).
the Professors walk: not identified.
the castle walls: see letter 0479, n. 9.
living speaking memento … as you have: Frankland’s wife (letter 0470, n. 9).
[4] years ago … at present write: Tyndall alludes to their shared time at Queenwood in 1847–8, when Frankland had made his first visit, of only a few months, to Marburg.
were longer … : these and the following words are written vertically in the left margin.
Dr Frankland … : address from envelope.
Please cite as “Tyndall0616,” in Ɛpsilon: The John Tyndall Collection accessed on 27 April 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/tyndall/letters/Tyndall0616