4th Oct. 1852
My Dear Francis.
The more I think on it the more advisable I deem it to have Bunsen1 if possible in the 1st number. I shall have Helmholtz2 ready by the middle of this month and as you have given notice of it in a note to Thomson’s paper,3 it, Bunsen & Knoblauch4 may appear and Clausius5 can remain over to the next number. I certainly think Helmholtz and Clausius will be too great a dose for <a> single number.6
Sincerely yours | Tyndall.
Dont be too hard on poor Reuben7 as there is something in him though clouded by egotism and impaired by want of proper culture – I wish the marrow could be distilled from his experiments it might be worth recording.
RDS 27/14
Bunsen: R. Bunsen, ‘On the Processes which have taken place during the formation of the Volcanic Rocks of Iceland’, in J. Tyndall and W. Francis (eds.), Scientific Memoirs (London: Taylor and Francis, 1853), pp. 33–98. The original paper is cited in letter 0526, n. 2.
Helmholtz: see letter 0664, n. 5.
Thomson’s paper: the note ‘Ueber die Erhaltung der Kraft, von Dr. H. Helmholtz. Berlin, 1847. [A translation of this essay will appear in the First Part of the New Series of the Scientific Memoirs.~ED.]’ appeared in W. Thomson, ‘On the Mechanical Action of Radiant Heat or Light: On the Power of Animated Creatures over Matter: On the Sources available to Man for the Production of Mechanical Effect’, Phil. Mag. 4:25 (October, 1852), p. 257.
Knoblauch: see letter 0651, n. 8.
Clausius: see letter 0664, n. 3. Tyndall’s recommendation that Clausius’s paper appear after those by Bunsen and Knoblauch suggests that he is alluding to the second of Clausius’s papers included in the Scientific Memoirs.
the next number: in the end, the paper by Bunsen appeared in the first number, the paper by Knoblauch was split between the first and second numbers, the paper by Helmholtz appeared in the second number, and the second of Clausius’s papers was split between the second and third numbers.
Dont be too hard on poor Reuben: Tyndall had mentioned in letter 0664 that he was going to write to Francis about Reuben Phillips, probably in relation to a paper that appeared in the January number of the Phil. Mag. (see letter 0684, n. 7). The nature of the conversation and what Francis said to prompt Tyndall to write this is unclear. A year previously, while discussing the inclusion of a paper by Phillips in the Phil. Mag., Tyndall had disparaged his competence and the value of his investigations. On this occasion, it seems Francis was more dismissive than Tyndall.
Please cite as “Tyndall0666,” in Ɛpsilon: The John Tyndall Collection accessed on 3 May 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/tyndall/letters/Tyndall0666