20th July 1852
Dear Francis
I send you Reslhuber1 as I promised – I believe it will be easier to print the tables from the figures in the book2 than from mine and I therefore have not copied them.
I have looked through Woodhead.3 It is written by a man extremely ignorant of the subject he pretends to handle – It is in truth for the most part perfect nonsense – now I dont know whether you review such books – Who is Woodhead? do you know him? – Does he cut any figure in the world? if so it would perhaps be worth while to demolish him at all events it will be a kind of scientific curiosity if you think it worth while to devote space to it – In your next just say a word on this point. If he was a man of any mark – like our friend4 zum Beispiel!5 the review might be made a spicy article.
Sincerely yours | Tyndall
RDS 27/11
Reslhuber: P. A. Reslhuber, ‘On the Decennial Period Observed by Dr. Lamont in the Magnitude of the Diurnal Motion of the Magnetic Needle’ Phil. Mag., 4:24 (September 1852), pp. 219–23 (from Poggend. Annal., 85:3 (1852), pp. 412-20). Reslhuber was the Director of the Observatory at Kremsmünster. See also letter 0649.
the tables from the figures in the book: the ‘book’ probably refers to the Poggend. Annal. (vol. 85 ran from January to April 1852). Reslhuber’s paper contains five tables; all were reproduced in the translation.
Woodhead: George Woodhead, whose book, Atmosphere: A Philosophical Work (London: Hippolyte Bailliere, 1852), was reviewed under ‘Notices respecting New Books’ in Phil. Mag., 4:24 (September 1852), pp. 228–30. ‘With regard to the work,’ the review reads, ‘it is our duty to state that we have rarely seen so much nonsense crammed into so small a space’ (p. 228).
our friend: not identified.
zum Beispiel: for example or for instance (German).
Please cite as “Tyndall0647,” in Ɛpsilon: The John Tyndall Collection accessed on 3 May 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/tyndall/letters/Tyndall0647