Queenwood 10th Nov. 1852.
My dear Francis.
I am a post late and the reason is that your letter1 found me in bed to which I have been confined all day.2 With regard to Galway3 the matter makes very little impression on me. Such an event is no new thing and therefore one can contemplate it without surprise – I rejoice to learn that Huxley has been so distinguished4 – never mind both of us will yet compel the world to fund our bread and butter.5 You did not send me his letter as you intended.
I return Helmholtz6 – It is as you say an exceedingly interesting paper and will be read in England with avidity – My first idea was to preface it by a few words of introduction but this would compel you to alter your present arrangement and it is not worth while to do so. I am working at the second paper.
I send you Reuben’s abstract.7 My opinion is that if he permitted his theories of thunder clouds & so forth to take less hold of him and confined himself more to the facts of the case it would be much better, I feel myself compelled to state once more my belief that the new view expressed in the paragraph page 2 to which I have attached the x is at variance with the fundamental laws of electric action. I do not think the abstract in its present state worth publishing – Is it possible that Reuben cannot be got to state clearly what his results are with oil & soap and water?
I return you also my own paper8 where the letters occur in pair such as mm′ bb′ &c. &c. a space or a comma ought to be placed between them – If you cast your eye on the figure you will see that they refer to distinct things, whereas bb′ &c would appear as intended to point out a single thing – is it not so? b is one thing b′ is another. I also return the paper of Clausius.9 I have tacked my name to the paper of Helmholtz10 It will explain the ‘J.T.’ attached to one of the notes.11
I wish I had something better than sympathy to offer for poor Mr Taylor – it is a sad affair12 – But you must support yourself in the conviction that you have left no means untried which seemed likely to promote his cure
ever yours | J Tyndall
StBPL T&F, Authors’ letters
your letter: letter missing.
found me in bed … confined all day: Tyndall wrote in his journal on 19 November 1852: ‘… my health has not been strong for some time, 10 days ago I was suddenly struck down by sciatica and confined to bed for an entire day, and even at the present moment I feel residual twinges of the pain’ (JT/2/13b/589).
Galway: Tyndall told Francis he had been unsuccessful at attaining the professorship at Galway in letter 0682. In his missing response Francis must have responded to this news.
so distinguished: probably refers to Huxley’s receipt of the Royal Society’s Royal Medal in 1852.
fund our bread and butter: a reference to Huxley’s and Tyndall’s unsuccessful attempts to gain professorships.
interesting paper: probably Helmholtz’s ‘On Sir David Brewster’s New Analysis of Solar Light’ (see letter 0672; cited 0673, n. 15). The second paper is ‘On the Theory of Compound Colors’ (cited ibid.).
Reuben’s abstract: R. Phillips, ‘On the Colours of a Jet of Steam and of the Atmosphere’, Phil. Mag., 5:29 (January, 1853), pp. 28–30. See also letter 0666, n. 7.
my own paper: see letter 0686. The figures referred to appear between pp. 420 and 421.
paper of Clausius: perhaps for the Scientific Memoirs (cited letter 0664, n. 3). Tyndall also translated a ‘note’ by Clausius (cited letter 0676, n. 5) for the Phil. Mag. during this time period.
paper of Helmholtz: Tyndall placed ‘Communicated by Dr. Tyndall’ as the first footnote (after Helmholtz’s name) to both ‘On Sir David Brewster’s New Analysis of Solar Light’ and ‘On the Theory of Compound Colors’.
the ‘J.T.’ attached to one of the notes: Tyndall attached a footnote concerning experiments he had performed with coloured wafers to both of Helmholtz’s papers: on p. 412 of ‘On Sir David Brewster’s New Analysis of Solar Light’, and p. 531 of ‘On the Theory of Compound Colors’.
a sad affair: see letter 0664, n. 10.
Please cite as “Tyndall0684,” in Ɛpsilon: The John Tyndall Collection accessed on 12 May 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/tyndall/letters/Tyndall0684