Queenwood Sunday
My dear Tom,
I have written off about the Cambridge and Mathematical Journal.2 At the last meeting of the British Association Sylvester was requested to draw up a statement of the theory of determinants:3 and the matter was then and there spoken of as something not yet published: so I think you must wait a little. Never mind the crystals:4 I shall manage to get on without them, but I trust the fellow will not be sending them to me after my investigation has been closed and when they are no longer of service. I wish M. Wiedemann would contrive to say exactly what he means; one would then know how to act. The Memoirs5 will be published on the 1st of next month and I have made arrangements for the printing of Wiedemann. Now I ought to have it by the 16th, but in case of hardship I might let it run on to the 20th or 21st – Can you let me have it by that time. If not let me know by return as I must then set about something else without delay. In fact I shall be placed in a great difficulty if the paper is not forthcoming at the date stated. I mentioned in ordering the Sirene6 that I should like you to send me one or two of Seebeck’s7 - dont - they would make the parcel awkward and I can easily make them here. My going to Berlin to fetch the Sirene8 is now out of the question. I hope Sauerbach is pushing it forward – and I hope you will manage to keep him to his word – a portion of one lecture depends wholly upon the Sirene and I want to become familiar with the use of it beforehand. I wish you would let me know in your next what is the price of the instrument drawn at page 371 – 2* in the 2nd vol. of Pouillet.9 It is for the compression of water and Gases – I always thought this instrument was Orsteds10 but Pouillet seems to say that it belongs to Magnus – will you decide this point for me? I bought Tennyson’s poems11 the other day – they are wine to the intellect. I am afraid in my haste I forgot to allude to DuBois intended marriage although he informed me of it in a previous note.12 She must be a brave girl if she is able to love Carlyle.
I think I have now said all I wanted to say. but no – we dont say 2˚ 10' lat. west of Paris Tom. Latitude is reckoned north and south.
Ever yours affectionately | [J Tyndall]
*Used also to shew the compression of water
RI MS JT/1/T/884
RI MS JT/1/HTYP/238
[10 April 1853]: as this was written on ‘Sunday’, and refers to the siren requested in letter 0739, it was likely written on 10 April.
Cambridge and Mathematical Journal: The Cambridge and Dublin Mathematical Journal succeeded the Cambridge Mathematical Journal in 1846 and became the Quarterly Journal of Pure and Applied Mathematics in 1855.
theory of determinants: a determinant is a value calculated from a square matrix in linear algebra. Sylvester’s report was to be presented in September at the Dublin meeting, but the inclusion of his ‘Provisional Report on the Theory of Determinants’ in the report of the meeting shows that he had not yet completed it (Brit. Assoc. Rep. 1852, p. 66).
crystals: Tyndall had requested crystals from Knoblauch who was acquiring them from Frankfurt (see letter 0698, n. 3). Knoblauch reported sending the crystals on 16 April (letter 0748, n. 2).
The Memoirs: see letter 0698, n. 8.
I mentioned … Sirene: while Tyndall had asked Hirst to order him a Sirene priced at 32 Thaler in letter 0739, n. 3, he did not mention ‘Seebeck’s’ (see n. 7), suggesting that a letter is missing in this exchange.
Seebeck’s: refers to apparatus used to demonstrate the Seebeck Effect, which is the generation of electricity from the temperature difference between two dissimilar electrical conductors. It was first identified by Thomas Johann Seebeck (1770–1831), a German physicist, as a thermomagnetic effect; it was further identified as a thermoelectric effect by the Danish physicist Hans Christian Ørsted (1777–1851).
fetch the Sirene: Hirst suggested that it would be faster for Tyndall to go to Berlin and get the Sirene himself in letter 0735.
the 2nd vol. of Pouillet: Likely refers to figure 185, which is mentioned in section 246 in Chapter 2, Book 2 of C. Poulliet, ‘De l’existence du calorique rayonnant et de l’idée qu’on peut se frmer des rayons calorifique’, Élémens de Physique Expérimentale et de Météorologie (Paris: Chez Béchet Jeune, 1827), p. 371.
Orsteds: see n. 7.
Tennyson’s poems: Likely refers to A. Tennyson, Poems (London: Edward Moxon, 1833) or A. Tennyson, Poems in Two Volumes, 2 vols (London: Edward Moxton, 1842).
DuBois intended marriage … a previous note: see letter 0737, n. 15.
Please cite as “Tyndall0743,” in Ɛpsilon: The John Tyndall Collection accessed on