7th May 1852.
My Dear Dr duBois.
Should you visit the Isle of Wight1 you can readily take a jump over to Queenwood. You arrive at the Bishopstoke station and this station is about half an hour’s journey from Dunbridge station on the line to Salisbury. We live 4 miles distant from Dunbridge (weniger als eine Deutsche Meile2) If you decide upon coming and write to me I will meet you at Dunbridge and guide you in safety to Queenwood.3
I should rejoice to be able to witness your experiments in Albermarle Street4 but I find it impossible to get away on Monday – I hope you will succeed in making converts of all who hear you, but of this I have little doubt, eben weil ‘die Wahrheit [gross] ist und Sie wird siegen’.5
[I am] still in hopes of [being able] to get up to London before [your] departure although I am extremely occupied at present. first I am striving to get a paper ready to put into the hands of Col. Sabine this month,6 and secondly we are preparing here for an examination. These both lay their claims upon me and hold me fast to my task.
On the last thursday of every month the ‘Red Lions’7 of whom you have heard Dove speak in Berlin meet and dine together; the meeting of the Royal Society takes place also on thursday – I have written to Francis to say that I shall strive to get up to London on that day and remain perhaps until the following Sunday: if you remain so long in town – We might then go to the R.S. and afterwards accompany Francis to the Red Lions.8 I hope we can so manage the matter
ever sincerely yours | John Tyndall
RI MS JT/1/T/399
the Isle of Wight: a holiday place for the wealthy.
weniger als eine Deutsche Meile: less than one German mile (German).
Should you visit ... in Queenwood: it appears that du Bois did not visit either the Isle of Wight or Queenwood. According to the account of his visit to England in Finkelstein (Emil du Bois-Reymond, cited letter 0622, n. 4) the only place outside London which he visited was the Lake District.
your experiments at Albermarle Street: du Bois was to conduct experiments at the RI; see letters 0622 and 0623.
eben weil … siegen’: precisely because ‘truth is great and will prevail’ (German). The famous modern version of this saying was Thomas Jefferson’s ‘Truth is great and will prevail if left to herself’ (Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, drafted in 1777); variants can be traced back to biblical and classical sources.
a paper ready ... this month: probably the second part of his paper on molecular influences that Tyndall was writing for submission to the RS. Tyndall had sent the first part to Sabine in February (see letter 0606). Tyndall sent the ‘papers’ (presumably a revised version of the first memoir along with the second) to Sabine on 14 May (Journal, 15 May, JT/2/13b/565).
the ‘Red Lions’: see letter 0569, n. 11.
On the last Thursday … to the Red Lions: it seems that Tyndall did not get to London to meet du Bois. According to Tyndall’s Journal (13 May 1852, JT/2/13b/565) he had been persuaded, by a (missing) letter from Francis, to go to London ‘next’ Thursday (that is, 20 May), but it appears that Tyndall was at Queenwood from 20–3 May when Hirst visited (Hirst, ‘Journals’, 20 and 23 May 1852). Nor could they have attended a Red Lions dinner together on Thursday 27 May, as du Bois left London for the Lake District that day (Finkelstein, ibid, p. 133).
Please cite as “Tyndall0626,” in Ɛpsilon: The John Tyndall Collection accessed on 7 May 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/tyndall/letters/Tyndall0626