Dear Dr Tyndall
I have written out my version1 will you look at the last paragraph especially the last lines, may it pass?
If you do not like my introductory note will you put any other that pleases you in your name.
I have had no good opportunity of speaking to Mr Faraday about you.2
Frankland began to day.3 Without effect.
He read the whole & only made one experi[ment]. Igniting common phosphorous by friction & shewing that red phosphorous would not ignite.4 The matter was very good indeed & in the best possible time. Excepting perhaps a little too strong of Playfairism.5
I have written to Du Bois.6 I was able to say a few words about him to Col. Sabine last night.
Ever yours truly | H. Bence Jones
April 7. 1853
RI MS JT/1/J/46
RI MS JT/1/TYP/676
my version: not identified.
speaking to Faraday about you: Bence Jones was to consult Faraday about whether or not it would be appropriate for Tyndall to accept simultaneous positions at both the LI and the RI (see letter 0741).
Frankland began today: Frankland had been asked to give a series of ten lectures on Technological Chemistry at the Royal Institution following Easter (‘General Monthly Meeting, Monday, March 7’, Roy. Inst. Proc., vol. 1, p. 276).
common phosophorous: i.e., white phosphorus. Red phosphorus, a polymer, is formed by heating white phosphoros or exposing it to sunlight.
Playfairism: Playfair had a reputation amongs his contemporaries for wordiness, as well as pomposity. Bence Jones was therefore likely suggesting that Frankland was too wordy in his presentation.
Du Bois: Emil du Bois-Reymond.
Please cite as “Tyndall0740,” in Ɛpsilon: The John Tyndall Collection accessed on